Did he or didn't he? This is the question on Italy's lips. No, says Silvio Berlusconi, I could never do a thing like that -- it was just dinner, nothing more. The allegation is "absurd and laughable." He has never had to pay for sex in his life. No, the young lady, Karima El Mahroug, known by her former stage name "Ruby," told prosecutors, he did not.

Investigators claim, however, that she told a friend during a call on her mobile phone that she had had sex with the prime minister. And she was 17 years old at the time -- a minor. And so the head of the Italian government now faces a new trial which could theoretically end in a prison sentence of anything between six months and three years. While prostitution is not illegal in Italy, it is a crime to exploit or aid prostitution with minors.

Of course, it is conceivable that Ruby wanted to brag about her high-ranking bed partner and completely invented the whole thing. But investigators don't believe that to be the case. And the more they bring to light about the prime minister's lavish parties, the more suspicious they become that this abundant supply of young beauties at these parties did not receive money and jewelry just for their smiles -- but that a few of them, for example, were allowed to live rent-free in a number of different Milan apartments in return for sex. These accusations form part of a document prosecutors submitted to the lower house of the parliament and published on its Internet site on Monday.

Starting at the middle of this week, members of parliament will be able to view whatever incriminating evidence the investigators have collected on Berlusconi. They are expected to make important decisions about how the case should proceed: Amongst other things they must authorize a search of the offices of one Berlusconi's most important aides, who allegedly functioned as a kind of private bookkeeper for him. And the prosecutors have personally summoned the prime minister himself over the next week, offering him three possible appointments to choose from. He has indicated that he has still not decided whether he will accept the invitation.

Berlusconi the Patron Saint

The authorities claim that the entire affair began last February, when 17-year-old Ruby was taken into custody by the police on suspicion of theft. The young woman had run away from home some time before, had fled from various children's homes and now had no fixed abode. Shortly after her arrest, the Italian prime minister himself made a surprise intervention. He called the police station and explained that Ruby was the niece of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and asked them to release the girl -- at least that's what the Italian papers reported shortly afterwords with relish.

What did the girl have to do with the prime minister, the police asked themselves? Investigators then set out to do a little research to find out what linked the two. Ruby had won a beauty contest in Sicily a short time before. Journalist Emilio Fede, 79, a news anchor for a Berlusconi-owned television station who had been fawning in his coverage of the prime minister, sat on the jury.

The TV personality is of great interest to the investigators, so they eavesdropped on several phone calls -- a normal practice in Italy. Fede was speaking to a colleague who was also a high-ranking official in Berlusconi's TV empire and, like Fede, an old pal of the prime minister. He was looking forward to the evening: "Tonight, there is going to be bunga bunga." At least that's what the Roman newspaper La Repubblica reported, citing the files in the investigation.

Berlusconi and his entourage brought this funny African word back with them from a visit to dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. "Doing bunga bunga" apparently means having wild parties with girls -- at least that's what it meant at Gadhafi's house. And the prosecutors claim or speculate that 17-year-old Ruby was present at one of these wild parties with 74-year-old Berlusconi and 79-year-old Fede. Whatever did or did not happen, whatever roles Fede and Berlusconi played in the whole event remain completely unclear. But the abundance of material fills new pages daily in the Italian press.

When Berlusconi first learned about the suspicions, he ranted that it had been a private dinner in a pleasant atomosphere and, therefore, should be of no interest to the court. Perhaps it was the duration of these dinners that astonished investigators, given that Ruby's phone location shows firstly that she was a frequent guest of Berlusconi, and, that on the Fede and Co. occasion she stayed for three days and nights, from April 24 to April 26 last year. Investigators are certain of this.

For his part, Berlusconi apparently had a lot less free time on his hands. He allegedly had to dash off to a meeting with Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano, and on the evening of April 25, he picked up Russia's strong man, Vladimir Putin, from the airport. Putin supposedly came to dinner and even spent the night in another of Berlusconi's villas nearby, La Repubblica reported. As well as Ruby, there were allegedly also a number of other pretty young girls at the court of the Italian media czar: showgirls, starlets, ex-weathergirls and even escort ladies. Berlusconi has sought to paint a nice and harmless image, describing it all as an innocent "diversion between friends." But the authorities suspect there was more to it -- namely "paid-for sex, with minors, too." None of the rumors or allegations, however, have been targetted at Putin.

105 Investigations, 28 Lawsuits

Berlusconi has been railing massively against the legal system since these new allegations became public. He claims that Italy will no longer be a free country if a few prosecutors can go unpunished for starting a fight with elected politicians. He says he has had to suffer 105 investigations and 28 lawsuits, which have cost him more than €300 million. And now he has been hit by yet another investigation. Berlusconi says this cannot go on and that the justice system requires urgent reform.

Now, Berlusconi is using a new argument in his effort to disprove the suspicions and reproaches, stating that he has been involved in a stable, but up until now strictly secret, relationship, and that this woman was present at the majority of these dinners and parties and would absolutely never have allowed her boyfriend to keep the company of young girls.