from www.indianexpress.com – A tabloid tidal wave washed over Italy as newspapers published eye-popping wiretapped conversations from a nightclub dancer who said she had dallied with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as a minor.

Wiretaps emerged days after a probe was launched against Berlusconi on charges he paid Moroccan-born Karima el-Mahroug, called “Ruby Rubacuori” for sex at his villa when she was a minor.

Berlusconi, 74, is also accused of helping to get her released from custody when she was held for theft. Now 18, she said she had asked Berlusconi for $6.7 million to keep quiet, according to wiretaps.

Prosecutors said this week that “a significant number” of young women had prostituted themselves to the Prime Minister, obtaining cash or rent-free housing in exchange for sex.

In one wiretapped conversation, published in La Repubblica, Mahroug said the Prime Minister had offered to pay her to keep quiet. “He called me, telling me, ‘Ruby, I’ll give you as much money as you want, I’ll cover you in gold, but the important thing is you hide everything.’”