Berlusconi sex scandal side show reaches Panama

The scandals surrounding  the sexual activities of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have now reached the shores of Panama. 

Valter Lavitola, a  former consultant to Finmeccanica,  the Italian company to which  Panama awarded a $333.3 million dollar  direct (without bidding) contract  for the purchase of helicopters and other security equipment, is on the run for alleged extortion against Berlusconi and is believed to be hiding in Panama.

Lavitola is being investigated for alleged involvement with businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini and his wife, Angela Devenuto– in demanding more than $1 million from  Berlusconi in return for not disclosing that the Prime Minister knew that private parties set up for him,  involved prostitutes.

The Italian authorities have  intercepted   calls made to Berlusconi by Lavitola from a cell phone in Panama.

La Prensa reported on Wednesday, September 14  that Lavitola  who confesses to being half Italian, is in  hiding in Panama.

Lavitola,  says La Prensa, was welcomed at the Presidential Palace  in June 2010 as the Latin American consultant for Finmeccanica and a  "trusted advisor" of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. 

He was present at a meeting of Berlusconi  and Martinelli on December 3, 2009, at Palazzo Mezzanotte in Milan, when the head of the Italian Government offered technical assistance and the donation of equipment to fight drug trafficking in Panama .

The event was documented with photographs of the President of Panama, showing Lavitola close to both leaders. The same day, Martinelli announced that Berlusconi would  visit Panama in June 2010.
Lavitola, who is director of the newspaper L'Avvanti is  now wanted by the Naples Public Prosecutor of Naples for extortion, with Berlusconi himself the victim, according to Italian media.
In an interview with Libero-News.it, Lavitola admitted Thursday that he is in Panama to avoid arrest, "I'm in Panama, but I will return soon," he said.

"I know when I set foot in Italy, the first step is will lead to a cell," he said.
"I do not care, I cannot do more than be silent," said Lavitola when questioned about the reasons he has remained silent if he is "not guilty" of extortion.
A telephone recording between Berlusconi and Lavitola Aug. 24, intercepted by Italian judicial authorities, would have exposed the relationship. “Stay abroad" was the advice Berlusconi gave to Lavitola after he asked if he could return to Italy to clarify his legal situation.
In that conversation, recorded by the authorities, both agreed to a "defensive strategy" that included the Prime Minister stating that he  was extorted, but the money given to Tarantini and his wife was a “helping hand”

 In his statement, Tarantini said  he organized between September 2008 and February 2009, a total of 18 parties with prostitutes for Berlusconi in "the hope of favors," such as public contracting in the health sector for his family breast prosthesis  business After dealing  with Berlusconi, Tarantini was known as the "King of the prosthesis."
In the recording of August 24, reproduced by the weekly LÂ'Espresso– Lavitola said he was in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. But media reports say the authorities presumed he was in Panama. The suspicion was based on the fact that in a previous 15 minute recording intercepted on July 13 between Berlusconi and Lavitola,  the authorities concluded that the call was made from Italy to a cell phone in Panama.
This information was confirmed by Lavitola who said: “I learned of the investigation when he [Berlusconi]  called on August 24  before the interview he granted to Panorama, which published the news."
But the interception of the call was made after the publication of the magazine Panorama, owned by Berlusconi. It announced  exclusively that  the Naples Prosecutor had opened an "inquiry process" against Tarantini and  Lavitola for alleged extortion  of the head of government.
"We found compelling evidence of serious and recurring payments to Tarantini; cash and other benefits of a financial nature, by Silvio Berlusconi," the Naples prosecutor's office said in a statement last week.
The prosecutor also stated that "payments were made by means hidden or opaque, and involved Lavitola’s intervention."
Prosecutors say Lavitola  and Tarantini worked together "to force Berlusconi to make more payments," not to reveal what they knew about him.
After the revelation, Finmeccanica, which, has contracts with the Panamanian government for $333.3 million, announced through a press release that Lavitola had  not been a consultant for the company since June 30 , when he completed his contract,

However, says La Prensa the June 30 date, coincides with the visit of the Prime Minister and Lavitola to Panama to finalize the  multi- miollion dollar purchase of  six Augusta Westland helicopters, a surveillance control and mapping  system to be developed by a subsidiary of Finmeccanica in Venezuela.
The specifics  of the deal were not disclosed, and were carried out carried out in private between Martinelli and Berlusconi and were reported to be $ 250 million.

But in a report given by Finance Minister, Alberto Vallarino in August revealed that the government will pay $ 333.3 million t to Finmeccanica.
The transaction was made at the summit of presidents of Central American Integration System, held in Panama in June. At that meeting, both leaders and Martinelli and Berlusconi called each other "friends".
The Italian government owns 30% of the shares of Finmeccanica. The company has been questioned by the Italian courts for alleged corruption and money laundering.

Panama’s  a  multi-million dollar purchase  of security equipment, will make the last payment in 2014.

Before the signing of the contract, Italy pledged six patrol boats to Panama for the National Naval  Service (Senan). This transaction also involved Lavitola, according to the Italian online newspaper Milenio.
Prosecutors in Naples, sent Berlusconi an ultimatum to appear, no later than Sunday  September 18 to testify about the alleged extortion. Otherwise, it will issue an arrest warrant.
The Prime Minister was due at an investigation  onTuesday, but sent his lawyer with a written statement, which was rejected by the authorities.
Berlusconi, in his defense, claims that "I did nothing illegal, I was just helping a desperate man …", referring to Tarantini.