London: Patrizia D`Addario, the escort
girl at the centre of the sex scandal involving Silvio
Berlusconi, claimed the Italian Prime Minister offered her a
seat in the European Parliament.
Before the European elections in June, the 72-year-old
media tycoon-turned-politician was strongly criticised for
proposing a string of attractive female candidates with no
political experience to run in the European Parliament
elections from the ballot of the People of Freedom party.
According to a report in The Times newspaper, which
quoted an interview published in the French newspaper Le
Journal du Dimanche, D’Addario said Berlusconi "offered me a
seat in the European Parliament".
The 42-year-old escort girl also intimated that she
was working on a "tell all" book about her encounters with the
Italian prime minister.
The latest episode in the ongoing "sex revelation"
followed the release of audio tapes and transcripts last week
that suggested intimate conversations between D`Addario and
the Italian leader, who denied all the allegations and that
the tapes are genuine.
In the interview published yesterday, D’Addario
discussed the two occasions late last year when she was
invited by the businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini to attend the
Prime Minister’s official residence.
"It was obvious to me that we were all escort girls.
Mr Berlusconi asked the girls if they’d like to work in
television, go into politics or to take part in Big Brother
(aired by one of his television channels)," D’Addario was
quoted as saying in the report by the British daily.
She claimed on her second visit to the Palazzo
Grazioli, the Prime Minister promised to help her resolve an
problem over a building permit in the southern city of Bari.
"But that is not what happened. Instead he offered me
a seat in the European Parliament," she said in the interview
to the French daily.
Bureau Report
