Berlusconi 'paid paparazzo for daughter's photos'

Italian media mogul and former premier Silvio Berlusconi paid off a paparazzo to stop the publication of compromising photographs of his daughter, Italian papers said today.

The media were reporting an investigation into a blackmailing ring.

Mr Berlusconi paid €20,000 for photos showing his daughter Barbara drunk and in male company outside a Milan disco, Corriere Della Sera reported.

Other people whose names have come up in the investigation include actors, politicians and soccer players.

The newspaper published purported transcripts of the deposition given by Barbara Berlusconi to a prosecutor in the southern town of Potenza who is investigating the alleged blackmail.

In the transcripts published by Corriere, Barbara Berlusconi says she negotiated with her blackmailers and her father gave her the money, though they never discussed what it was for.

The paparazzo at the centre of the probe, Fabrizio Corona, was arrested along with two others yesterday.