London, June 9 (ANI): Claims that Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi slept with an underage girl at his infamous 'bunga bunga' party has been corroborated by one of his guests.
Brazilian model Michelle Conceicao said that the allegation that Berlusconi slept with belly dancer Karima El Mahroug - known as 'Ruby' - when she was 17 was 'true'.
On being asked if she saw the 75-year-old 'pay and go to bed with underage girls', she replied: "Certainly that's true - I was there," the Daily Mail reported.
Conceicao said that television presenter Barbara Guerra had slipped away with Berlusconi into his bedroom at the end of a party in April 2010.
"Ruby and I were in the bedroom next door and we were laughing," she told Italian magazine Espresso.
"We said that Barbara was faking it, then after a while we couldn't hear anything. Then Barbara came out and said that he had fallen asleep. At that point Ruby slipped inside and closed the door.
"She managed to wake up the sleeping prime minister. She did it all herself - he is of a certain age," she said.
Conceicao's claims came just hours before Berlusconi's trial for allegedly having sex with Mahroug resumed in Milan.
In Italy, the age of consent is 14, but paying for sex with a woman below the age of 18 is seen as underage prostitution and punishable by up to three years in prison.
Prosecutors claim that Berlusconi gave a string of women cash, jewellery and cars to attend his parties.
"All the girls who were paid went with him. Those that stayed the night got 5,000 euros or maybe more, the others who didn't stay got at the most 1,000 or 2,000 euros," Conceicao said.
She also claimed that two 'very famous' names were among Berlusconi's favourite women and she was willing to testify about them when she gives evidence at the trial later this month.
Conceicao said that she had been due to testify last month but was unable to do so because she was in Brazil, adding that Berlusconi had called her and made a veiled threat about her evidence.
"Berlusconi called me and he spoke with me. He said, "When there is a storm at sea you never throw anybody overboard." I think it was his way of telling me not to tell the truth. I'm scared something will happen to me," she added.
Her claims were dismissed by Berlusconi's lawyers as 'completely unfounded'. (ANI)
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