Half of Italians want Berlusconi out

A poll has found that nearly half of Italians want Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to resign in the wake of recently- leaked news of his involvement in a sex scandal.

Forty-nine percent of 600 people surveyed on Wednesday and Thursday said the 74-year-old Italian premier should quit, while 45 per cent disagreed, AFP reported on Monday.

On Friday, Milan prosecutors revealed new documents showing Berlusconi has frequented prostitutes and other women he kept in his rent-free luxury apartments in Milan.

They also brought documents revealing that he had paid to have sex with Karima El Mahroug, an underage Moroccan nightclub dancer who also went by the name of Ruby Rubacuori.

Milan’s prosecutors revealed their investigation a day after a top Italian court partially stripped the prime minister of political immunity.

Experts warned that the scandal might force the Italian government to early elections.

The scandal widened on Sunday with reports that police had found “very interesting photographs” of parties held by Berlusconi, when they raided an apartment in Milan, in which he had allegedly installed a “harem” of starlets and call girls.

Frequenting prostitutes is not a crime in Italy. However, having sex with one under the age of 18 has been an offense since Berlusconi’s right-wing government approved the legislation in 2006.

The Italian premier apparently continued payments to an alleged call girl even after the announcement that he was at the center of a prostitution investigation.

According to new evidence, Alessandra Sorcinelli received 10,000 euros from the Italian prime minister’s account on January 17, four days after it emerged that prosecutors in Milan were investigating him on charges of paying for sex.