High levels of heavy metals found in body of 'bunga bunga' model who was due to testify against Berlusconi

A model who was involved in the scandal of Silvio Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” sex parties had high levels of the heavy metals cadmium and antimony in her blood when she died earlier this month, prosecutors in Italy said on Monday.

The findings appear to corroborate concerns that 34-year-old showgirl Imane Fadil, who was a key witness in a trial involving the former prime minister, may have been poisoned.

Francesco Greco, a prosecutor in Milan, said that tests showed that the level of cadmium in Ms Fadil’s body was seven times higher than normal.

Levels of antimony in her system were three times greater than normal.

Cadmium is a hazardous heavy metal that is used in semiconductors, batteries and nuclear reactors.

Swallowing even small amounts can cause vomiting, diarrhea, joint pains and organ failure.

Antimony is a lesser-known heavy metal that is also used in batteries, as well as munitions, paint, glass and plastics.

Ms Fadil had told friends after she was admitted to hospital in February that she feared she had been poisoned, according to her lawyer. A postmortem is due to be carried out on the body on Wednesday.

There are fears that Ms Fadil may also have been exposed to radioactive substances.

Investigators have called in a specialist unit of the fire service to deal with any radioactivity.

“So as not to expose doctors to dangerous substances, we’ve decided to proceed with the necessary precautionary measures,” said Mr Greco.

Mr Berlusconi, who served as prime minister three times, was convicted but later acquitted on appeal of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, who called herself Ruby the Heart Stealer.

Ms Fadil gave evidence in that trial, which ran for months in 2012.

Mr Berlusconi is accused of paying off more than two dozen models and escorts in exchange for them giving false testimony in the trial.

They were allegedly instructed to describe the gatherings as “elegant dinners” and to deny that there was anything risqué about them.

Those allegations are now the basis of a new, ongoing trial, in which Ms Fadil was due to testify against the billionaire businessman.

She told prosecutors that when she attended the parties, she witnessed young women performing stripteases and pole dancing while dressed as nuns, nurses and police officers.

"They started to dance like the nuns of the film 'Sister Act', and then they took off their clothes," she said.

On another occasion, a starlet in her underwear stripped while wearing a mask with the face of footballer Ronaldinho.

Ms Fadil’s death was only revealed on Friday – two weeks after she died – but it has since dominated the front pages of Italy’s newspapers.

A government minister on Monday said that the truth of what happened to the model needed to be determined.

“The circumstances surrounding the death of Imane Fadil are obscure and opaque,” said Barbara Lezzi, minister for southern Italy in the ruling coalition.

“It is only right that Italians should know what was going on in the ambit of a public figure who has been involved in political life for 25 years and who intends to remain in politics,” she said, in reference to Mr Berlusconi’s intention to stand in the European Parliament elections in May.

Mr Berlusconi, 82, who still leads the centre-Right Forza Italia party, claimed at the weekend that he had never met Ms Fadil. He said her claims about his bunga bunga parties were “invented and absurd”.

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