Things are looking different for eternal romancer and alleged chronic sex offender Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, whose wily ways to keep himself out of law's long arms are equally matched by his scornful defiance of morality and integrity.

The 74-year-old premier has valiantly fought off a string of sexual allegations in a country that is far too lenient towards individuals engaging in illicit affairs than its predominant Roman Catholic flavor allows for.

But with wiretaps of the conversations of an 18-year-old call girl scandalously exposing the perversions, and prevarications, of the prime minister, Italians are losing patience.

An Italian parliamentary commission is expected to review today a prosecution request to grant permission to question the premier and search his offices.

Italian prosecutors have already opened an investigation into charges that Berlusconi had paid sex with El Mahgroug, a Moroccan night club dancer, as paying teenagers for sex is a criminal offence in Italy.

Moreover, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said on Tuesday he had grave concern over the scandal engulfing the premier and asked him for clarification. Avvenire, a mouthpiece of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, effectively flayed Berlusconi by criticizing what it termed as a culture of “power, sex and money.”

The prosecutors are also looking into charges that Berlusconi secured the release of El Mahgroug from police custody in a theft case last year. The prosecution is determined to dig deep into the sleaze, saying the premier had paid for having sex with a significant number of women.

The Moroccan night club dancer, Karima El Mahgroug, who allegedly had sex with the prime minister when she was a minor, is seen as denying the episode for financial favor from Berlusconi. Her wiretapped conversations which were splashed all over Italian media on Tuesday showed she had an illicit affair with Berlusconi for several months when she was a minor.

According to a report by IANS/AKI, one of the wiretaps has her saying this: I have denied everything. I'm trying to save him (Berlusconi), so I can make some money out of this.

In another phone conversation the girl says she would make five million euros by remaining silent and thereby helping Berlusconi suppress the allegations.

Tapes of her conversations revealed that Berlusconi offered her money and other favors for keeping the affair under wraps. He says I'll give you whatever money you want, I'll shower you with gold, but it's important that you hide everything and don't say anything to anyone,' she said.

The billionaire media mogul, whose wife left him in 2009 because of his habit of frequenting minors was in the eye of a storm when it was exposed that he had given expensive gifts to Noemi Letizia, a teenage model who frequented parties at his villa.

However, as always, Berlusconi has denied all charges of wrong doing. He has said he didn’t know El Mahgroug was a minor and denied accusations of his peccadilloes saying that he had had a steady girlfriend since 2009. He repeated on Tuesday he would not resign over the scandal.

Public support for the prime minister, whose government faces serious trouble after fending off two no-confidence votes in December, is also dwindling.

A constitutional court nullified last week a law that would have protected the premier from trial over charges of corruption and tax fraud.

Now that the court has taken away the shield and the coalition showing cracks, Berlusconi's position could become increasingly vulnerable.

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