Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has denied any “intimate ties” with an underage girl he faces charges about.
Speaking at his trial in Milan, Mr Berlusconi said “there have never been scenes of a sexual nature” at his home.
He said the expression bunga-bunga to refer to alleged sex parties came from a joke he had used from time to time.
Referring to the charge of abusing his powers to get the girl, nicknamed Ruby, released from police custody, he denied ever having pressured Milan police.
The woman, Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El-Mahroug, had been arrested for suspected theft.
Mr Berlusconi, now 76, is accused of paying to have sex with Ms El-Mahroug – who is widely known as Ruby Rubacuori (“heart-stealer”) – in 2010 when she was 17.
He told the court he thought she was 24 “as she herself maintained”.
“I have never had any intimate relations with her,” Mr Berlusconi said.
Ms El-Mahroug has always denied having sex with the prime minister when she was 17.
“I can state with absolute certainty that there have never been any scenes of a sexual nature” at his Milan villa, known as Arcore, the Italian media mogul and politician said.
And he added: “I have never exercised pressure on officials of the Milan police.”
Mr Berlusconi, who resigned over Italy’s economic crisis last November, is said to have urged police officers to release Ruby, allegedly telling them she was a granddaughter of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
