Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday denied at his trial that he hosted raunchy parties, had sex with a 17-year-old prostitute and abused his powers by pressuring police.
Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with Moroccan exotic dancer Karima El-Mahroug, better known by her stage name as "Ruby the Heart Stealer".
He is also charged with abusing his position as prime minister by telling police to release her when she was arrested for petty theft in May 2010.
"I never had an intimate relationship of any kind with her," the 76-year-old told the court in only his second appearance at the trial in Milan which began last year.
The "Bunga Bunga" -- described by many of his female guests as a type of lap dance that Berlusconi enjoyed -- was "only a joke I used to tell which then got picked up by the press," he told the court's three female judges.