Berlusconi Investigated Over Rubygate

Nicole Minetti’s office searched. PM alleged to have induced her to help cover up inside story of Arcore party

MILAN – The Milan public prosecutor’s office is investigating Silvio Berlusconi on suspicion of “extortion” and “child prostitution”. According to the allegations, Mr Berlusconi used his position as prime minister on the night of 27 and 28 May 2010 to induce officers at Milan police headquarters to wrongfully give custody of the then 17-year-old Moroccan girl, Karima El Mahrough aka Ruby, who had run away from a juvenile rehabilitation centre, to Lombardy regional councillor Nicole Minetti in order to cover up having used a child prostitute over many weekends at Arcore, to ensure his impunity and to prevent the inside story of his parties at the Brianza residence from coming to light. A note from the public prosecutor’s office explains that the PM’s name was entered in the register of persons under investigation on 21 December and that today he received a summons to appear before the magistrate. In the same note, the Milan chief public prosecutor, Edmondo Bruti Liberati, points out that the offence of exploiting prostitution is alleged to have taken place at Arcore in the period from February to May 2010.

THE CHARGES – The crime of “extortion”, as defined by article 317 of the criminal code, punishes with imprisonment for four to twelve years any public official, or person delegated to provide a public service, who abuses his position or powers, or forces or induces another person wrongfully to give or promise money or other benefits to the public official himself or to a third party. The prime minister is charged with the crime of “child prostitution” with aggravating circumstances (article 600 b, in the form described in the second paragraph), which punishes with imprisonment from six months to three years anyone performing sexual acts with a minor aged from 14 to 18 in exchange for money or other economic benefits. This is the only case in which the client of a prostitute is subject to penal sanctions.

SEARCHES – The repercussions of the Rubygate investigations are emerging during searches currently under way in Milan, including that of the premier’s right-hand man and long-standing administrator of the Berlusconi family portfolio, Giuseppe Spinelli. Years ago, Mr Spinelli was investigated with Mr Berlusconi over the Medusa film company and the Macherio residence, and he was one of the directors of both the Dolcedrago holding company and the Idra real estate company, which owns Arcore. Investigators visited the office of Mr Spinelli, who is not under investigation, to carry out a search but were met with the objection that the rooms “pertained to the political secretariat of the Honourable Silvio Berlusconi”. According to sources close to Mr Spinelli, investigators did not contest the point and called off the search, leaving Mr Spinelli’s office. Police officers are also searching the office of Nicole Minetti, the regional councillor under investigation for complicity in both adult and child prostitution. The same suspicions have been levelled at Lele Mora and Emilio Fede.

POLICE OFFICERS AGGRIEVED PARTIES – No members of the police forces are under investigation in connection with the Berlusconi/Ruby case. To the contrary, the officers at Milan police headquarters who received Mr Berlusconi’s phone calls are the aggrieved parties in the extortion with which the PM is charged.

RUBY’S VISITS TO ARCORE – Karima, the 17-year-old (in 2010) Moroccan woman at the centre of the case, in which Mr Berlusconi is under investigation on charges of extortion and child prostitution, is thought not to have been telling the truth when she claimed in public she had only been to Arcore on one or two occasions. Crucially for the investigations, analysis of traffic on her mobile phone is believed to contradict her. She is reported to have been placed at Arcore not once but on many weekends when Mr Berlusconi was present at his residence.

English translation by Giles Watson

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