ROME (Reuters) – Opposition lawmakers demanded that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resign after a paper on Saturday published what it said were details of him asking police to free a 17-year-old Moroccan girl detained for theft.
The saga of the girl, a dancer who goes by the stage name ‘Ruby,’ and her ties to the 74-year-old centre-right prime minister have exploded into the latest scandal over Berlusconi’s private life.
Newspapers have been awash with details of parties she allegedly attended at the media tycoon’s residence.
She has been quoted calling them “bunga-bunga” parties — an apparent reference to a lewd joke that is taken to refer to some form of sexual activity — and the term has already taken on a life of its own in popular gossip.
Berlusconi, who has weathered other scandals tied to parties with escorts and another teenage girl over the past year, says he helped Ruby when she was in trouble with police, but denies interfering with the justice system. Berlusconi’s approval ratings have been falling steadily to below 40 percent thanks to an austerity package, government infighting and corruption scandals.
But polls show his government remains comfortably ahead of the weak leftist opposition, and the main threat to his administration remains a bitter split with former ally Gianfranco Fini, whose support he needs in parliament.
The widely respected newspaper Corriere della Sera yesterday published details of a phone conversation it said Berlusconi had with a Milan police chief when Ruby was detained for theft in May.
According to Corriere, Berlusconi urged him not to send Ruby to a shelter, saying: “We know this girl, but most of all I want to explain to you that she has been identified to us as a relative of Egyptian President (Hosni) Mubarak.”
