Italian magistrate 'Ilda the Red' plans to quiz Berlusconi on sex offences

London, Jan 17 (ANI): Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has come under the scanner of a Milan magistrate, known as 'Ilda the Red', who plans to quiz him about his alleged sex offences with underage prostitutes.

Ilda Boccassini, 61, is one of three law chiefs investigating allegations Berlusconi, 74, paid to have sex with underage vice girls and extortion, the Daily Mail reported.

Boccassini, a mother-of-two, who once described tackling Berlusconi as tougher than taking on the Mafia against which she has had many successes, plans to get him to court to face questions this summer.

The probe centres on Berlusconi's relationship with a belly dancer called Karima el Mahroug, then 17, who was a guest at a party he hosted at his home last year.

The extortion accusation centres on the pressure he put on Milan police to release the exotic dancer, nicknamed Ruby Rubacuori (Ruby The Heartstealer), after she'd been arrested on suspicion of theft.

Regarding Boccassini's plan, Berlusconi joked that she and her colleagues were just "jealous" not to have been invited to the parties at his mansion outside Milan. (ANI)