Silvio Berlusconi defends 'bunga bunga' sex scandal

London, Apr 28 (ANI): Silvio Berlusconi has reportedly said that Italian newspapers "count for nothing," as he tried to reassure anxious showgirls caught up in the "bunga bunga" sex scandal.

According to telephone conversations intercepted by investigators on Friday, the starlets continued to exchange worried calls over the unfolding scandal, including one in which a showgirl spoke to a friend while having a Brazilian wax treatment in a beauty salon, the Telegraph reported.

Nicole Minetti, the half-British showgirl-turned-politician who is on trial accused of recruiting prostitutes for the former Italian prime minister, told the women to deny that they even knew the premier.

But she then admitted that "little by little everything is emerging" about the scandal in the Italian press.

Marysthelle Polanco, a glamour model from the Dominican Republic, told Minetti that she felt "nervous" about the scandal, which eventually contributed to Berlusconi being forced to resign in November last year.

The phone calls were secretly recorded by Milan prosecutors in October 2010, as the Italian and international press began to report that one of the prime minister's guests had been a then 17-year-old nightclub dancer, Karima El Mahroug, known as Ruby the Heart Stealer.

Prosecutors have put him on trial and accused him of paying her for sex - a criminal offence under Italian law because she was under 18, to which Berlusconi denies the charges.

In one conversation, Berlusconi told Minetti to remain calm and that he would "always" protect her, describing journalists as "scoundrels". (ANI)

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