Moroccan model says Berlusconi paid her for sex

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi faces another prostitution scandal after an underage aspiring Moroccan model claimed she had sex with him at his villa in Arcore, near Milan, in return for a "cash gift".

The 17-year-old, known only by the name 'Ruby', apparently made the allegations when she was thrown out of the flat she shared last May. She attracted the attention of police, who found she had no residency permit. Facing deportation, she pleaded with her captors to let her off, telling them she knew the 74-year-old prime minister.

According to Il Fatto Quotidiano, Ruby told police that she had been to a number of parties at Berlusconi's home between last year and this spring.

Prostitution is not illegal in Italy - as long as it is not organised and the sex worker is over 18 years old.

Because of her age, the allegations have been described in the Italian press as a potential "sex scandal" and have drawn comparisons with the case of Patrizia D'Addario, the callgirl who claimed last year she had slept with Berlusconi at another of his villas in Rome, and Noemi Letizia, the underwear model whose 18th birthday Berlusconi attended.

But the prime minister's lawyers said in a statement that the reports of "alleged statements made by 'Ruby' in relation to events at the home of Berlusconi are completely unfounded".

Berlusconi is not under investigation and magistrates are wary of Ruby's claims. They say her claims have been contradictory at times and warn that they could be an attempt at promotion from a woman wanting to break into modelling. ·