Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini told the court in her summing up speech that El-Mahroug was “part of a prostitution system set up for the personal sexual satisfaction of the defendant.”
She said the dancer quickly became the premier’s “favourite” and had not admitted the relationship with him only because she had received as much as 4.5 million euros ($5.8 million) from him.
El-Mahroug has proved an unreliable witness, admitting in May that she had lied to investigators about the parties – refuting her earlier claim that strippers had “bodily stimulated” Berlusconi – and saying she had invented the vast sum of money.
All that has done has convinced prosecutors she could also be lying about not having had sex with him.
Berlusconi has long blamed his legal woes on persecution by “Communist” judges, and any perceived “victory” on the part of the left could spark an explosive reaction from loyalists.
The former cruise ship singer has been under investigation or on trial ever since entering politics in the 1990s after a career in construction and the media.
A Milan court last month upheld his conviction for tax fraud, confirming the punishment of a year in prison and a five-year ban from public office which is frozen pending a second appeal.
Three of Berlusconi’s friends – a show-business agent, a former network anchor and a former regional assemblywoman – are on trial on pimping charges in a separate trial linked to the case.
Prosecutors in Naples have also requested a trial against Berlusconi on allegations that he bribed a left-wing senator with three million euros to join his party and topple a past centre-left cabinet.
Even if definitely convicted in any of the trials, Berlusconi is unlikely ever to see the inside of a prison cell because of lenient sentencing guidelines for over-70s.
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