Berlusconi's hold on power weakens as prostitution charges widen to 8 people

Italian prosecutors on Friday charged eight people with procuring prostitutes for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his associates. The development came as the latest in a lurid tale of Berlusconi's personal life that has caused further cracks in his ruling coalition. Umberto Bossi, the head of the Northern League, the second largest party in Berlusconi's ruling coalition, said on Friday that he doubted the current government would last until 2013, when its mandate is set to expire. Pollsters say that Berlusconi's approval levels in Italy are again sinking to near record lows, making his hold on power increasingly tenuous. According to the polling firm Opinioni, Berlusconi's approval levels now rest at around 23 percent, compared to 65 percent in 2008 when he was elected. The prime minister, who, in addition to accusations related to prostitution, is facing criminal investigations that include bribery, tax evasion, influence peddling, and abuse of power, has insisted that despite all the bad news, his government would serve out its full term to 2013. Berlusconi's lawyer announced on Friday that he will not attend court hearings in Naples over the new development. "Looking at the current situation, Berlusconi will not present himself to the prosecutors and will therefore not respond to the sex claims," his lawyer Paolo Longo told ANSA news agency. Already, Berlusconi is the only post-war prime minister in Italy to serve a full five-year term, which lasted between 2001 and 2006. In the latest developments, prosecutors charged Giampaolo Tarantini, a businessman based in the southern Italian city of Bari, for running a high-level prostitution ring. Tarantini and a German actress named Sabina Began were alleged to have recruited at least 30 young prostitutes, starlets, models, and other young girls to attend parties at Berlusconi's residences in Sardinia and Rome in 2008 and 2009. Through his lawyers, Berlusconi has denied any wrongdoings. "To refer to these meetings as sex parties is outrageous," attorneys Niccolo Ghedini and Piero Longo said in a statement. "They were nothing but friendly gatherings." Though prostitution is legal in Italy as long as the prostitute is over the age of 18, Tarantini, Began and six others are charged with supplying Berlusconi and his associated with a steady stream of prostitutes in hopes of gaining jobs, government contracts, or other favors - seen in Italy as a kind of influence peddling. The investigation began after one of the girls at one of the parties, Patrizia D'Addario, secretly taped her encounter with the prime minister. Berlusconi has not been named in this latest investigation. According to the prosecutors, the eight defendants were acting in order to curry favor with Berlusconi, but not acting on his explicit instructions. But that does not mean Berlusconi is immune from trouble related to prostitutes: the 74-year-old prime minister is already under investigation for paying a 17-year-old girl nicknamed "Ruby the Heart Stealer" for sex, and then using his influence to help her get out of legal trouble. The case is one of three open criminal investigations into Berlusconi's activities.