'The spectre of blackmail hangs over Berlusconi'

London, June 20 (ANI): Silvio Berlusconi is so badly stuck in the labyrinth of controversies that he has become "blackmailable", says a leading Italian daily newspaper.

"The spectre of blackmail hangs over Berlusconi," said La Stampa.

Giampiero Mughini, a right-wing commentator, said: "A Prime Minister who is so blackmailable is a problem for the country."

Meanwhile, the scandal surrounding the Italian Prime Minister over his extramarital affairs has just got sleazier, reports The Times.

A showgirl has claimed she and a number of other women were paid by the prime minister to attend his private parties.

In the Italian newspaper Corierre Della Sera, 42-year-old Patrizia D'Addario claims she has evidence, pictures allegedly showing Berlusconi's bedroom as well as secretly recorded video and audio tapes of their encounters.

The news adds to the list of Berlusconi's "friendships" with various women, including most recently, teenaged model Noemi Letizia.

Letizia's name first appeared in the Italian press when Berlusconi's wife sent an open letter to an Italian newspaper criticizing her husband's choice of female candidates for the upcoming European elections as unqualified.

She also bitterly complained that he had attended Letizia's 18th birthday party in Naples while he never bothered to attend those of his own children. (ANI)