Sex charges against Silvio Berlusconi made public

A "significant" number of young women prostituted themselves to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, according to state prosecutors.

Berlusconi provided some young women who frequented his Milan mansion with apartments in the city, prosecutors wrote in a document posted on the website of the lower house of parliament.

Prosecutors sent the document to the lower house to justify their request to search the office of a Berlusconi associate, who they believe paid the women on behalf of the scandal-prone 74-year old prime minister.

Berlusconi is being investigated for allegedly paying for sex with a teenage nightclub dancer and using his office to cover it up, Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on its website.

The two alleged offenses carry sentences totaling 15 years in jail.

The news came a day after Italy’s top court cleared the way for Berlusconi to stand trial on fraud and corruption charges after softening a temporary immunity law that protected him. Berlusconi is already fighting for his political survival after narrowly winning a confidence vote in parliament last month.

Investigators are reportedly examining whether Berlusconi intervened to have Karima El Mahroug, 17 at the time of the alleged offenses, released from a police station last May after she was held for an alleged theft.

Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing, says the allegations are absurd and accuses the magistrates of acting illegally for political motives.

He said in a video posted on his party’s website Sunday he had never paid for sex and has been in a stable relationship since separating from his second wife, Veronica Lario. Lario filed for divorce in 2009 saying she could no longer be with a man "frequenting minors."

Friends of the premier are also targeted in the current investigation, particularly those who “identified, selected and accompanied a relevant number of young women, who prostituted themselves with Silvio Berlusconi in his residence and were paid money by him,” Milan prosecutor Edmondo Bruti Liberti wrote in the document submitted to parliament.

Berlusconi, acquitted in eight corruption trials since entering politics in 1994, has called himself history’s most-persecuted man.