Silvio Berlusconi has ridiculed the case against him on vice charges, saying that the number of women with whom he was alleged to have had relations defied belief.
"I am 75 years old", he told the centre-left newspaper, La Repubblica. "And even if I am a rascal, 33 girls in two months seems to me to be too many, even for a 30-year-old. It's too many for anyone."
With three weeks to go before his trial, Berlusconi was signalling the launch of a vigorous counter-offensive. In fact, Italy's prime minister is 74 years old, and the prosecutors do not claim he had sex with all the female guests who attended dinners at his mansion home outside Milan, some of whom stayed on for alleged, so-called "bunga bunga" parties.
Berlusconi portrayed them as "Carefree, elegant dinners". Asked why, in that case, the women had been paid large sums of money by his accountant, he said it was because of his charitable nature. "I pay for operations, the dentist [and] university fees to all those who have need of it", he said.
The prime minister, who split from his second wife in 2009, said that another reason for disbelieving the prosecution case was that his girlfriend would have "scratched my eyes out" if he had done the things of which he is accused. He had earlier been quoted as saying he had a steady female companion.
But, despite fevered speculation in the Italian media, she has never been identified. Berlusconi said that "fortunately, I have managed to keep her out of this dirt"
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