Dominique StraussKahn questioned as 'pimp' suspect

Dominique Strauss-Kahn questioned as 'pimp' suspect

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been questioned as a suspect, not a witness as expected, by French police investigating a suspected hotel prostitution ring.

.................One of Mr Strauss-Kahn's lawyers said that the former French presidential hopeful never knew that the women at orgies he attended were prostitutes.

"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," Henri Leclerc told French radio Europe 1 in December.

French newspapers have dubbed the investigation "The Carlton Affair" after the name of the expensive Lille hotel where some of the meetings took place.

Investigators are seeking to discover if prostitutes were paid using corporate funds from a large French construction company.

Paying a prostitute is not in itself illegal in France, but profiting from vice or embezzling company funds to pay for sex can lead to charges. .........................................