Moroccan-born Imane Fidal, who was caught up in the scandal of Silvio Berlusconi’s notorious “bunga bunga” parties, has mysteriously died, with a newspaper suggesting on Saturday she may have been poisoned with a radioactive substance.

And now, France24 reports that Milan prosecutor Francesco Greco said an investigation had been opened following the death.

The 33-year-old had been brought to the hospital on January 29 with unexplained stomach pains. According to Italy's Corriere della Sera daily, the hospital had run a battery of tests to determine the cause of her failing health, but finding nothing, had sent off samples to a specialised laboratory in the northern town of Pavia. The results came back on March 6, five days after her death, suggesting the presence of "a mixture of radioactive substances which are not normally available for purchase", the paper said, citing unnamed sources.

Perhaps they have reason to suspect foul play, as Fadil's lawyer, Paolo Sevesi, said she had spoken to him about "her fear of having been poisoned," the AGI news agency reported.

The former model first hit the headlines in 2012, The Telegraph reports when Ms Fidal was one of three young women who claimed that Mr Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” gatherings, held at his villa outside Milan, were sordid sex parties.

Their testimony is at odds with around 25 other starlets, who claimed the parties were “elegant dinners”. Prosecutors claimed they were paid to lie under oath by Mr Berlusconi, the billionaire businessman.

Finally, Berlusconi has an imminent reason to want any remnants of this case to go away as The Telegraph notes that the 82-year-old has announced his intention to run in the European Parliament elections in May, in what would be yet another comeback from sex scandals, court cases and allegations of financial impropriety.

His party performed poorly in a general election last March and was comprehensively eclipsed by The League, run by Matteo Salvini, who is now interior minister in a coalition with the Five Star Movement.