Strippers dressed as nuns performed at Silvio Berlusconi parties, says model Imane Fadil

Model Imane Fadil, a witness at the trial of Silvio Berlusconi, has said strippers dressed as nuns performed for the former Italian prime minister at one of his “bunga bunga” parties.

Imane Fadil said she had been given 2,000 euros ($2,614) by Silvio Berlusconi the first time she attended a “bunga bunga” party.

She was one of several women who arrived at a Milan courthouse on Monday to testify in Silvio Berlusconi’s trial.

The former Italian prime minister is accused of paying for sex with an underage nightclub dancer.

The woman, Moroccan-born Karima el-Mahroug, was 17 when she allegedly had sex with the prime minister.

Silvio Berlusconi is also accused of abusing his powers by getting police to release Karima el- Mahroug – better known by her stage name Ruby The Heart Stealer – from jail when she was arrested for stealing.

Imane Fadil told the court she had attended several parties at Silvio Berlusconi’s villa outside Milan.

She alleges that the first night she went, she saw two young women in nun costumes stripping for the prime minister. One, she said, was Nicole Minetti, now a regional councilor for Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party in Milan.

Imane Fadil claimed that Nicole Minetti and the other woman dressed as a nun stayed the night at the villa, and that women who attended bunga bunga parties were paid more for sex.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported last week that Silvio Berlusconi had paid a total of 127,000 Euros to three female witnesses, including Nicole Minetti, since the trial began last year.

Silvio Berlusconi’s lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, denied the payments were an attempt to influence the women’s testimony, saying they were legal and reflected the former prime minister’s “usual generosity”, AFP news agency reports.

This is one of three trials that the businessman and former prime minister is currently a defendant in. The other two relate to tax fraud and violating official secrets, while earlier this year an Italian court threw out a fourth case relating to bribery claims.

Silvio Berlusconi stepped down in November 2011 over concerns about Italy’s economy.