Tuesday, 18 March 2014. Italian High Court explains to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi how the ban from public office works, and that he cannot run as a candidate for the European Parliament.
“Yes, you're banned from public office for two year, and no, you cannot run for European Parliament” told the High Court to Silvio Berlusconi, who tried to convince them that he had a case for his appeal (appealing also to the European Court of Human Rights).
The only way for Mr Berlusconi to get back to politics might be an appointment from his friend Putin?
While he was at it, he appealed also against his expulsion from the Senate, another measure – like the interdiction from taking part in elections as a candidate – taken after Mr Berlusconi was found guilty of tax fraud.
Thursday, 2 January 2014. Silvio Berlusconi appeals against his conviction for paying for sex with a minor and abuse of office, nasty things he did when Prime Minister of Italy, according to judges.
Berlusconi just couldn't resist teenage Ruby's charm
Silvio Berlusconi was given a 7-year sentence in the end of June 2013 for having sex with a minor (the nightclub dancer and stripper Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby the Heartstealer, her stage name) and for abusing of his office as a prime minister, when he tried to cover the story that threaten to become public, as the young girl was stopped by the police. Berlusconi personally phoned the policemen, saying that they better release Ruby into the safe hands of show-girl-turned-into-politician Nicole Minetti (the attractive young woman will also get a 7-year sentence – later on – for procuring women for the former Italian prime minister's bunga-bunga parties in Villa San Martino), since it seemed she's the nephew of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak.
Ruby the Heartstealer received from Silvio Berlusconi "money and jewellery" in exchange for sex, according to Milan's judges
Thursday, 21 November 2013. Milan's court publishes details of Berlusconi conviction, is bunga bunga parties and his exchange of money and jewellery for sex with under-age dancer Karima el Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer).
The proceedings about the sex scandal that involved Silvio Berlusconi ended up with a seven-year sentence, appeal pending. It's no more on the news, as it happened last June, but now new details have been disclosed about the sex scandal, as the Milan's court published a 350-page document about testimonies, bunga bunga parties and – of course – lots of women. The former prime minister of Italy will also be banned from public office for life (if he fails to win the appeal to the sentence), a problem that adds up to Berlusconi's woes: on Wednesday the Senate will decide whether to expel him from the Italian parliament, in the wake of his conviction for tax fraud (no appeal pending, this one is definitive).
Wednesday, 7 August 2013. As Silvio Berlusconi's judiciary woes grow and political clout wanes, his wealth seems to rise steadily, according to Bloomberg.
Now, look at me! (Photo: REUTERS)
Apart from a few criminal convictions, Silvio Berlusconi's 2013 hasn't been that bad so far, for his wealth increased by the amount of 1.5 billion US dollars (which is almost 1 billion Pound Sterling or about 1.12bn in European Euros), rising by 26 percent and reaching the mind blowing sum of $7.6bn (i.e. £4.9bn or €5.7bn), according to Bloomberg Billionaires index (#1 on the leaderboard still being Mr Bill Gates, with a fortune of $72.6bn/£46.6bn/€54.4, but Silvio has quite a nice heap of money too).
Wednesday, 7 August 2013. An Italian newspaper reveals details of Silvio Berlusconi last attempt to escape from imprisonment.
Silvio Berlusconi, almost ready for the tour
After the Giro d'Italia (the Italian version of the French cycling race Tour de France, which took place in May 2013), according to right-wing newspaper Libero, Italy is going to witness another country-wide event, the Giro della Libertà (i.e. Tour of Freedom in English), a race meant to keep Silvio Berlusconi away from prison (if he's fast enough), after his conviction to a four-year prison term for tax fraud. What are the details of the tour? The Knight was quotes saying «Until 15 August [Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary], I'll stay put,» to his inner circle he met at his residence in Rome Palazzo Grazioli, «but then I'll make a bang.», before moving on to his villa in Arcore. The objective of all this fuss? Obtain the presidential pardon from head of state Giorgio Napolitano (we assume).
Tuesday, 25 June 2013. In the wake of the Rubygate sentence against Silvio Berlusconi , journalist and PdL politician Giuliano Ferrara together with other 400 odd people express they opinion that, all in all, we are all whores, women and men.
Giuliano Ferrara showing a cardboard Berlusconi and a larger-than-life Mubarak poster
The day before a court in Milan found Silvio Berlusconi guilty of having paid an under-age prostitute for sex services and having abused of his power as prime minister, and Giuliano Ferrara did not like it.
Thu, 11 April, 2013. Francesco Chiesa Soprani, former agent of Silvio Berlusconi's protégé Naomi Letizia, says in an interview that the former prime minister had sex with the girl when she was under-age.
As
some of you might remember, Silvio Berlusconi's second wife Veronica Lario decided to reveal to the public that his husband was “a sick
man in need of help“ because of his “uncontrollable” yearning
for women (and – at the same time - decided to start separation
proceedings) when the former prime minister of Italy attended to
young model Noemi Letizia's 18th birthday party in Naples.
Though
the story was never forgot, nobody knew exactly until what extent the
relationship between a minor girl and a elderly man she called “papi”
(when Noemi got 18, Silvio was 73) was inappropriate.
Rubygate: who knows the truth and who's interested in it?
Thursday, 4 April, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's favourite belly dancer (and alleged prostitute) Ruby the Heart Stealer holds an emotional protest in front of Milan's tribunal (and raises angry reaction from other bunga-bunga women).
“The Ruby case: Are you not interested in the truth any more?” read on the signed carried by the curvaceous Ruby the Heartstealer (real name: Karima El Mahroug) as the young Moroccan staged a protest (this time properly dressed up) by reading a statement to the journalists.
Prosecutors state that Ruby had paid sex with Silvio Berlusconi when she was 17, and the billionaire is also accused of having abused of his position as prime minister, when he intervened with police after Karima was arrested because she was accused of stealing money from a friend.
Fri, 22 March, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi is portrayed as a driver of a Ford Figo who “leaves his worries behind”, symbolised by Ruby the Heartstealer, Francesca Pascale and Nicole Minetti tied up and gagged in the boot of the car.
The infamous advert created for Ford India,
with Karima-Ruby, Francesca and Nicole
A drawing appearing on the Ford Figo's ad by Ford India Ltd shows three curvaceous women – namely belly dancer Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby the Heart Breaker, Silvio Berlusconi's girlfriend Francesca Pascale and (former) sweetheart Nicole Minetti – hands a feet tied, muzzled, in the rear booth of a red car, whilst the former Italian prime minister is sitting in front of the vehicle, at the wheel, smiling and showing the V sign.
«Leave your worries behind with Figo's extra-large boot» reads the claim on the bottom of the page, obviously referring to Silvio's headaches about bunga-bunga parties, sex scandal trials, and other matters related to women.
Not exactly something that Berlusconi would find funny – we presume – and not exactly something in a good taste – we might say – considering the poor record of India in terms of behaviour of men towards women.
Sunday,
February 24, 2013. Three half naked women try to prevent Silvio
Berlusconi from reaching the polling station, supporting rumours that
females “just throw themselves at him”.
The
sudden attack of three topless Ukrainian women caused some concern
amongst the law enforcement officers escorting
Silvio Berlusconi to the polling station (general election take place on Sunday 24 and Monday 25 February in Italy), but the former prime minister of Italy surely did
not find himself in a totally unusual situation (having dealt with an entire bunga-bunga army for quite a while), and he did not budge.
FEMEN activist grabbed by Berlusconi's escort
After
the first puzzlement, the half-nude women were quickly pinned down in
the falling snow, detained by police and then hastily dragged away
screaming, creating quite a chaotic scene (you can see it on the
video on our YouTube channel) as people stood in queue to cast their
vote at Milan's school building.
Thursday,
December 20, 2012. Silvio Berlusconi-s owned gossip magazine attempts
to delegitimize a magistrate looking into sex-scandal trial by
denigrate her socks. It's not the first time they resort to this
extreme measure, Italian judges should pay more attention to the
colour of their socks, experts say.
Ilda Boccassini doing work
The
prosecutor in charge of the Rubygate – a case in which Silvio
Berlusconi is indicted for having given money to under-age Karima el
Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) – has appeared on a photo
shoot on Berlusconi's Mondadori-owned “Chi” weekly magazine, a
gossip newspaper.
Judge
Ilda Boccassini is an old enemy of Berlusconi's, since she took over
the place of Antonio Di Pietro, back in 1994, in the “Mani pulite”
(“Clean hands”) investigation.
Silvio and Ilda met up in several occasions, since.
Ilda Boccassini doing shopping
The
gossip weekly portrays the judge as she goes shopping in the centre
of Milan, adding captions in order to deride the magistrate. A list
of her cloths is published, where “multi-coloured striped wool
socks”, costing 21 euro, are exhibited and undrlined in order –
somehow – to belittle the judge. Another photo shows Ilda
Boccassini dropping the butt of a cigarette to the ground. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and Rai3 news service accused the media outlet of "hounding" the judge.
A similar technique was used by Canale5 broadcaster staff in 2009, when they hounded judge Raimondo Mesiano, who ordered to Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest to pay 750 million euro (£612m) to Carlo De Benedetti's – arch-enemy of The Knight – CIR, as a compensation in the frame of the Lodo Mondadori, a battle between the two Italian entrepreneurs following the acquisition of publisher Arnoldo Mondadori Editore by Fininvest. Mr Mesiano was followed by the broadcaster's men, his turquoise-coloured socks were exposed as a major offence.
Ruby rebuilding her virginity with Chi's Alfonso Signorini
By the
way, the weekly magazine we started this post with is owned by
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA (company chaired by Silvio's daughter,
Maria Elvira Berlusconi, commonly known as Marina Berlusconi). The paper is also
known for having published topless photos of Kate Middleton earlier
this year, and a picture of prnicess Diana, taken as she was dying,
after a car accident on 31 August 1997. The Director of “Chi”,
Alfonso Signorini, was in charge also when Mediaset (on Canale 5's Kalispéra TV show) tried to prove that Ruby the Heart Stealer was – in reality – a
kind of vocational nun, not a prostitute.
Monday,
December 10, 2012. Key defence witness Karima el Mahroug (aka Ruby
the Heart Stealer) does not show up in court for Silvio Berlusconi's sex-related Rubygate trial. It turns out she's in Mexico.
Are you trying to delay the proceedings? Oh, not at all!
Most
probably Karima el Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) just forgot the court date (Silvio Berlusconi's trial,
he is accused of having paid for her sexual services, as under-age
prostitute) when she decided to travel to Mexico, with her boyfriend
and one-year-old daughter Sofia Aida.
That's
why she was not there last Monday, without notifying her attorney or
sending any documentation to justify the absence from the sex-scandal
trial. Quite
remarkably, Berlusconi's lawyers did not bother to talk to her, just
to make sure they'd be on the same page in the court, just to realise
she was somewhere else.
Sunday,
November 4, 2012. Silvio Berlusconi ponders to colour the Senate of Italy by choosing an Argentinian showgirl – known for faking an orgasm on TV– as a candidate for the imminent elections.
Most
possibly Mr Berlusconi must have thought that Italians do not care
about the skills of a politician, provided she can boast of large
boobs, as he evaluates the candidacy of 46-year-old showgirl Iliana Calabrò
for the People of Liberty (PdL) party in the Senate of Italy.
Her tentative Italian does not prevent her from understanding the concerns and issues of Argentina's Italian community (she declared on a telephone interview with the Italian Corriere della Sera), since she take part in all their parties, events, occasions, were – of course – she would also dance and sing.
Thursday, October 6, 2011. Silvio Berlusconi finds the final solution to revamp his political future in Italy: a new party name.
Umberto Bossi – Berlusconi's main political partner – for the first time admitted that it seems “objectively complicated” that the current government carry on until 2013 (the end of the mandate). But Berlusconi – who is probably feeling that something is not going the right way with the current government – has already a cunning solution, which could reverse any pessimistic forecast of the political developments of his current party (which name – The People of Freedom – proved not to be as catchy as he thought). Does he have any idea? "We will examine any suggestions," said the Italian prime minister. But reportedly he then joked: "I was told the name that would have the largest success is 'Go Pussy!'. Some Italians actually think that “Go Pussy” (“Forza Gnocca” in Italian), sounds like an ideal continuation of Berlusconi's strategy (which started back in the 1994 with the foundation of the “Forza Italia” - “Go Italy” - party), which main pillar is packing with “pussies” the Italian parliament and his residences. Politically it's not paying huge dividends, but it's nice to see (he may think). The list of women and alleged girlfriends somehow linked to the Italian tycoon seems to be almost endless.
A few days ago the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco has denounced "behaviour that is contrary to public dignity" and "difficult to reconcile with institutional decorum", but perhaps Silvio Berlusconi simply didn't understand what he was getting at.
Friday, 1 September 2011 (Saint Giles). Silvio Berlusconi confesses he thinks Italy is a “shitty country” and vows to leave the country “that sickens him”. It might be a mutual feeling.
Though many Italians thinks Italy is not such a hospitable place to live in (and many have already left, for a reason or another), few of them thinks it's a “shitty“ country.
Wednesday, March 30 2011. While visiting the island of Lampedusa (Sicily) Berlusconi cracks one of his jokes with local women about his reputation of womaniser.
Silvio Berlusconi was visiting the island of Lampedusa, seeking a solution to the invasion of immigrants, a problem that had increased in the previous months.
At the aeronautical base of the tiny island, he met a group of local mothers, came to protest against the wave of migrants and ask their prime minister to grant his help.
And what do they get from the jolly hearted politician? A joke, of course. More precisely a sex-related joke, in these time of bunga bunga scandals, as he use to bestow to anybody he gets in touch with.
“During a survey” told a high-spirited Berlusconi “a sample of the Italian women is asked whether they would make love to Mr Berlusconi. «And how!» is the answer from the 30 per cent of them, whilst 70 per cent of Italian women would reply «What, again?»”.
Another woman was more lucky, since Berlusconi recited a poem to her, dedicated to her eyes.
Saturday, April 2 2011. The aftermath of Milan's football derby. Berlusconi jokes about his bad memory. And women, of course.
On the night of April 2 AC Milan – Berlusconi's football team – beat its rival Inter Milan 3-0. AC Milan is leading the table, Inter is trailing. After this victory the probabilities that AC Milan will win the Italian Championship rise considerably. Therefore the Italian Silvio is in really high spirits, when the journalists gets to interview him.
Berlusconi loves to tell jokes
One of the reporters asks the Prime Minister about AC Milan's coach: “Does he resemble [former AC Milan coach] Capello or any of the great trainers of the past?”. AC Milan President Silvio Berlusconi replies “I don't know. I'm old. My memory is getting bad”. And then he goes on “This morning I was chasing my secretary, because I wanted to lay her on my desk, and she said to me «Mr President, we did it already, two hours ago». And I said to her «You see, the problem is my memory». If you write about this, you are a bunch of...”. He does not end the sentence, but everybody (reporters from sports shows on channels the media tycoon owns) understands that this time they are requested to keep the funny story for ourselves.
Actually the journalists, who usually are craving for spicy jokes of Berlusconi, almost managed to censore this one. One of them, a woman says to Berlusconi: “Cut! This one not, this one has to be cut” and, in the end “No, no! Not this one! Don't worry, President”.
And it almost worked, until April 21, when somehow the joke appeared in TV, on the Michele Santoro's AnnoZero, not exactly Berlusconi's favourite. And the "Fatto Quotidiano" (The Daily Fact, a Internet magazine) loaded the video onto YouTube. Looks like somebody wanted to make sure most of Italian population can laugh about the amusing anecdote.
Monday, 21 March 2011. Milan. New leaks from the Rubygate investigation. At least 33 women are involved with Silvio Berlusconi's "flamboyant life".
Iris Berardi
New details – and pictures (allegedly taken by model Barbara Guerra's mobile phone) – have been leaking in the past days about Mr Berlusconi's flamboyant way of living and hot nights, target of an investigation called Rubygate, from the name of Ruby Rubacuori (nick name for Karima Rashida El Mahroug), the Tunisian girl (later it would turn out she is actually Moroccan) the Italian prime minister might have paid for sex whilst she was still a minor.
The other under-age girl being Iris Berardi, a brazilian showgirl and possibly a prostitute.
Karima Rashida El Mahroug
(aka Ruby Rubacuori)
Allegedly Arcore's Villa San Martino hosted dressing-up (and down) parties, where female guests played different roles: AC Milan's players (specially Ronaldinho and his buck teeth), policewomen, nurses and so on.
Prosecutors linked at least 33 women to the 74-year-old Italian politician. Next month the first of a series of hearings will be held in Milan.
The proceedings are likely to linger on for quite some time.
Perhaps in an attempt to disguise his real identity, some of Berlusconi's women (like former show-girl and dental hygienist and now politician Nicole Minetti) gave up the Papi (Daddy) nickname and called the politician Betty (yes, it's a female nickname in Italy too!). Is't that funny?
Nicole Minetti
The investigation seems to have clarified the bunga-bunga price list that was in use during the Arcore's hot nights:
- 2,000 euro (around £1,750, $2,835) were paid to the girls for the mere participation to the evening;
- 5,000 euro (about £4,370, $7,085) were granted for those who - after the dinner - were to participate to the bunga-bunga party, in the discotheque underground;
- up to 7,000 euro (£6,115, $9,920 circa) was (allegedly) the reward for the chosen one, who would spend the night with “Betty” and... more bunga-bunga.
The date of the begin of the proceedings is April 6, 2011.
Sunday, 25 January 2009. Sassari (Sardinia). Silvio Berlusconi, Il Cavaliere, admits he hasn't a clue about how to solve the problem of rapes in Rome and other Italian cities.
Following a series of sex related assaults carried out around Italy, reporters questioned the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi about the possibility of deploying army troops to defent women and curb sexual crime.
Berlusconi laughing with fans (female fans, of course)
The politician replied by saying that there would be the need to send as many soldiers as there are beautiful girls and women in country.
So, Italy would need millions of soldiers, not just 300,000 units an initial the proposal stated.
People shouldn't forget that Silvio remarks are often made with a sense of "levity", as the president billionaire pointed out later. Oh, he can be so funny, Silvio Berlusconi.
Saturday, 19 February 2011. Italy's Capital historical centre. The Italian politician-entrepreneur meets up with the journalist, a relaxing moment with Silvio Berlusconi. Or is it?
Enrico Mentana, Director of TG La7
Silvio Berlusconi and Enrico Mentana (former anchorman of Berlusconi's TG5 and Matrix TV programmes and now news director at La7, Italian niche TV channel) bump into each other centre of Rome.
The Italian Prime Minister's armour-plated car is leaving Palazzo Grazioli, his residence in Rome. Mentana is strolling around with his family.
Silvio Berlusconi spots his former employee, stops the procession, gets out of his car to greet him. Big smiles, hand shaking (apparently they both forgot any previous conflict. And they did have conflicts*!), then the Premier starts a small talk with the youngest of Mentana's children, sitting on the journalist shoulders: «You're such a big girl, you shouldn't need to suck a dummy».
