Italy: Male models says 'Ruby' offered him €4k for sex

Milan, 15 June (AKI) - A male model told former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's 'bunga bunga' sex trial he was offered 4,000 euros by the teenage Moroccan nightclub dancer 'Ruby' to have sex with her.

"Ruby, who I put up for two nights at my home, offered me said she'd give me 4,000 euros if I had sex with her," Antonio Passaro told a Milan court on Friday.

In the case, 75-year-old Berlusconi is on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of office over his relations with Moroccan-born 'Ruby' whose real name is Karima El Mahroug.

Passaro, who met El Mahroug in 2009, denied knowing about her alleged encounters with Berlusconi in May 2010, when she was 17.

"I only learned of this from media reports," Passaro told the court.

Passaro, a former dancer whose stage name is 'Manuel', told prosecutors how he met El Mahroug in a Milan nightclub and how she allegedly became obsessed with him.

When they met, El Mahroug told Passaro she was 25 and was a belly-dancer from the northern Egyptian port city of Alessandria, he said.

"I didn't believe a word she said," Passaro stated, claiming he had to move house to escape her unwelcome attentions that included bombarding him with phone-calls.

"I didn't report her for stalking though, as she was clearly needy and I felt sorry for her," Passaro said.

El Mahroug and Berlusconi deny they had sex, but Michelle Conceicao, a Brazilian model who attended the parties and witness in the trial told Italian weekly Espresso that Berlusconi definitely had sex with El Mahroug and paid her 5,000 euros for this.

Conceicao also claimed that Berlusconi telephoned her as recently as in May and asked her to lie about his encounter with El Mahroug when she appears in court later this month.

Dozens of show girls and aspiring starlets received cash and other gifts for taking part in sex games at Berlusconi's Milan home and other residences, according to prosecutors.