Silvio Berlusconi 'sex tapes' released

From The Konformist continuing series: "Why Silvio Berlusconi Is the Coolest World Leader":

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6724839.ece

From The Times July 23, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi 'sex tapes' released
Josephine McKenna in Rome

The saga of Silvio Berlusconi and the call girl took another twist yesterday with the release of a tape allegedly recorded while the pair were having sex and then discussing his performance.

In the third series of tapes and transcripts published this week by the left-leaning weekly L’Espresso, the woman, Patrizia D’Addario, apparently flatters the 72-year-old Prime Minister, adding: “You know how long it has been since I had sex like I had with you tonight ... It’s several months, since I broke up with my boyfriend ... Is this normal?”

A voice said to be that of Mr Berlusconi credits his performance as “a family thing”, then advises Ms D’Addario, 42, on sexual practices.

The tapes deepened the political outrage in Italy. Massimo Donadi, parliamentary leader of the left-wing Italy of Values party, called the Prime Minister’s behaviour “morally reprehensible”. Dario Franceschini, leader of the main centre-left opposition, said Mr Berlusconi was trapped in his own reality show.

The tapes, the third instalment of Mr Berlusconi’s encounter with Ms D’Addario, released over the past three days, left Italy wondering what would come next. There was no comment from Mr Berlusconi’s office. The previous day he had tried to shrug off the scandal by saying: “I’m no saint.”

After recordings in which Mr Berlusconi apparently asks Ms D’Addario to “wait for him in the big bed”, yesterday’s tapes took the listener inside the bedroom as the couple had intimate relations. He apparently tells her: “You should have sex with yourself — you should touch yourself often.”

In another tape, dated October 5, 2008, also released yesterday, the Prime Minister is allegedly heard showing Ms D’Addario around his Sardinian holiday home, Villa Certosa, where he has been known to invite attractive young women for parties.

On a tour of his 120-hectare (300 acre) property, Mr Berlusconi is recorded showing Ms D’Addario a lake that has swans. He tells her that 30 Phoenician tombs dating back to 300BC were found there.

Speaking on a video on the website of the Italian daily La Repubblica, owned by the Espresso group, Mr Franceschini, the Democratic Party leader, said: “There are many leaders, also from the centre Right, that keep a very clear division between their political and personal life. He instead chose to combine his public and private life from the very beginning. He now remains a prisoner of the same reality show.” The date of the alleged bedroom encounter was not given but Ms D’Addario was said to have been hired by Gianpaolo Tarantini, a businessman under investigation for corruption and abetting prostitution, to go to the Prime Minister’s residence in Rome twice in mid-October and on the night of November 4 last year.

In tapes and transcripts published earlier, Ms D’Addario was purportedly heard discussing her appointment in October with Mr Tarantini. He said that Mr Berlusconi would not be “taking you like an escort — he will be taking you as a friend of mine that I brought along” and that the Prime Minister did not use condoms.

Last night Mr Berlusconi’s lawyers said that they might sue.

At a meeting of his centre-right People of Freedom party, the Prime Minister said in an apparent reference to the tapes: “We let people keep their mobile phones because, at least when I am there, no inelegant situations can arise.” He has not denied that the woman went to his house but has said he did not know she was an escort.

The transcript included this exchange:

PD A young man would have come in a second.. I mean he would have come... Young men usually have a lot of pressure.

SB But if you will you allow me... (muffled) I believe it is a family thing.

PD What?

SB Having an orgasm.

PD You know how long it has been since I had sex like I had with you tonight. It’s several months, since I broke with my boyfriend. Is this normal?

SB May I? You should have sex with yourself. You should touch yourself often.