Witness: Berlusconi guests wore ‘nun’ garb
ROME — A model testified Monday that female party guests of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi dressed up like nuns and then stripped to their underwear.
Model Imane Fadil testified at Berlusconi’s money-for-sex trial that two women at one of his infamous “bunga bunga” parties wore black tunics, crosses and white head coverings.
Berlusconi is accused of paying a 17year-old Moroccan girl for sex at one of his parties that other prominent members of the government attended. He was in office at the time and is accused of trying to prevent a police investigation.
Fadil, also Moroccan, said she had attended several parties at Berlusconi’s villa outside Milan. She said she was paid $2,600 to attend one of the gatherings.
Fadil said one of the “nuns” at the first party she attended was Nicole Minetti, now a regional councilor for Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party in Milan.
Berlusconi, who has pleaded not guilty, did not attend Monday’s court session. The woman he is accused of paying for sex, exotic dancer Karima elMahroug, denies that it ever happened.
A billionaire media businessman, Berlusconi was forced from power in November by lawmakers who accused him of doing nothing to prevent Italy’s slide into massive debt. He is facing charges in two other trials for alleged tax fraud and for violating official secrets.
He has been convicted several times of corruption and false accounting, but the cases against him have either been overturned or failed to be prosecuted in time.
Last year, prosecutors’ documents alleged that a Berlusconi crony told a woman to dress up as a nurse and pretend to examine Berlusconi. The documents also alleged that an unidentified person told police that policewomen’s uniforms were available at the parties.
Sessions in the Berlusconi trial are held a few times a month and are scheduled to continue through May. If convicted, the former premier could be barred from holding public office.
He has turned over the leadership of his political party to his former justice minister and indicated he might not run for what would be a fourth term.