Dominique Strauss-Kahn was last night being held in police custody as officers questioned him over an international prostitution ring.
The disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund – who lost his job amid claims he tried to rape a New York
Strauss-Kahn, 62, whose wife Anne Sinclair is standing by him, has made the extraordinary claim that he was unaware the women at the orgies were prostitutes because ‘they were naked at the time’.
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| Dominique Strauss-Kahn |
But detectives have told Strauss-Kahn, who once had hopes of becoming president of
He will face criminal charges if prosecutors can prove the prostitutes were being paid with fraudulently obtained money – in this case funds from a major construction company – and that Strauss-Kahn knew about it.
His dreams of high office a distant memory, he was yesterday driven to Lille police station in northern France in a Mercedes limousine with blacked-out windows after being summoned for questioning.
He will be held in custody until today at least before bail can be considered, according to a source close to the case.
Strauss-Kahn was a leading member of the French Socialist Party who planned to run for president this year, after years of quietly and diligently climbing the political ladder.
But last May he was engulfed in scandal and had to resign from his prestigious post at the IMF after being accused of attempting to rape Nafissatou Diallo, a 32-year-old chambermaid, in a
He insisted the sexual encounter was ‘inappropriate’ but not violent, and prosecutors eventually dropped the charges because of doubts about the alleged victim’s credibility.
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| Strauss Kahn with wife Anne Sinclair |
She is still threatening a civil action. Shortly afterwards French writer Tristane Banon came forward and accused Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her during an interview for a book she was writing in 2002, when she was 23.
French prosecutors dropped their investigation last October, saying the incident had happened too long ago to be taken to trial.
Strauss-Kahn admits taking part in orgies and having what he describes as an ‘uninhibited sex life’, but insists ‘he never paid a centime’ for it.
‘I have a horror of prostitutes and pimping,’ he said. Although using prostitutes is legal in France
Strauss-Kahn is accused of being involved in a high-level pimping ring which supplied the women to men at the sex parties.
There is also a suggestion some of the women may have been under-age.
Strauss-Kahn, who lives in Paris with his determinedly loyal wife, allegedly attended parties arranged by the ring at a hotel and restaurant in the French capital and, most recently, in Washington DC
His mobile phone records are said to show he used the services of at least ten prostitutes from France and Belgium
In December, his lawyer, Henri Leclerc, revealed Strauss-Kahn’s extraordinary defence – he did not know the women were prostitutes.
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| Nafissatou Diallo |
He said: ‘He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you’re not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman.’
Strauss-Kahn had previously asked to speak to judges leading the inquiry to put the record straight. The prostitution ring is said to have operated out of Lille’s upmarket Carlton Hotel, and a number of men have already been charged with organising orgies in what the French press has called ‘the Carlton affair’.
A building company executive is also accused of using its funds to entertain guests at the parties.
If convicted of ‘complicity in pimping’, Strauss-Kahn would face a maximum prison sentence of five years.
‘Misuse of corporate assets’ carries a seven-year jail-term.
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