Silvio Berlusconi was embroiled in fresh controversy yesterday as prosecutors opened an inquiry into allegations that showgirls were paid to attend parties at his villa in Sardinia and his residence in Rome.

ANSA, the Italian news agency, confirmed that the prosecutor's office in Bari in southern Italy was seeking to establish whether payments to women to attend "private residences in Rome and Sardinia" had involved "induction into prostitution".

[Murdoch Alert]