Escort says she videotaped Berlusconi

ROME, June 19 (UPI) -- A former escort and model says she secretly videotaped trysts with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Patrizia D'Addario, who ran for the European parliament as a candidate for Berlusconi's People of Liberty Party, said she has given audiotape to police, The Independent reported Friday. She said she also has videotapes.

D'Addario gave an interview to the Italian daily Corriere delle Serra, which was published Thursday.

Prosecutors say they are not investigating Berlusconi but are questioning people supposedly involved in scandals around him.

In Brussels, where Berlusconi was attending a European Union summit, he said Friday that Sky News journalists who recorded a telephone conversation he had with his lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, are "spies," the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

"I can't face an Italy like this," he said in the taped phone call.

Ghedini is also a People of Freedom parliamentary delegate.

"I never said anything about 'an obscure plot,' I never said I was 'afraid of being spied on' and I never said 'my lawyer is crazy '... they're scoundrels," Berlusconi told Ghedini.