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Police Question Strauss Kahn

Posted on: Wed February 22, 2012

PARIS Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn spent the night in police custody and is being questioned again Wednesday over allegations related to a prostitution ring which operated out of the northern French city of Lille and reached as far as Washington.On Wednesday morning, the 62-year-old former IMF chief was still in custody in Lille but has not been charged with anything. The Lille prosecutor\'s office said Tuesday he could be held for questioning for up to 48 hours, with possible renewal for a second 48-hour period. The initial two days of custody were split into two 24 hour periods and prosecutors said Wednesday that Mr. Strauss Kahn\'s detention had been extended, suggesting he will undergo further questioning during the day.

The onetime French presidential hopeful spent the night in a sparse police cell. An officer at the police station where Mr. Strauss-Kahn is being held said the cell has a squat toilet and a mattress on a concrete base.

A person familiar with the matter said Mr. Strauss-Kahn\'s custody "is likely to be over by the end of the day", without specifying what the conditions of his possible release might be.

Among the possible outcomes, Mr. Strauss-Kahn could be cleared and perhaps considered a witness in the case, or he could face preliminary charges. Under the latter scenario, prosecutors say he could be released with or without bail, or remanded in custody.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn presented himself at the Lille police station at 9 a.m. CET Tuesday. He is being questioned with regard to an investigation for "complicity in a prostitution network" and "aiding and abetting in the misappropriation of company assets," said a spokeswoman at the Lille prosecutor\'s office.

The detention is part of an investigation French police are conducting into the alleged prostitution ring. Preliminary charges have been brought against eight people, including a police commissioner and a former regional head of a French company, who was allegedly filing expense reports to cover the costs of the alleged ring. Prosecutors say preliminary charges have been brought against all of them for involvement in a prostitution network.

The latest case of possible sexual misconduct marks another embarrassment for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, whose highflying French presidential ambitions were dashed by his arrest in May on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid at New York\'s Sofitel Hotel. He resigned his IMF post shortly afterward. Mr. Strauss-Kahn returned to France in early September 2011 after the charges against him in New York were dropped when New York prosecutors said they couldn\'t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the former IMF chief had attacked the maid, Nafissatou Diallo. Mr. Strauss-Kahn has admitted to a "moral failing" in his interaction with Ms. Diallo but has denied he raped or assaulted her.

According to French news reports, Mr. Strauss-Kahn allegedly was invited to parties by the prostitution ring that took place in Paris as well as in Washingtonwith the last one taking place in the U.S. capital just days before Mr. Strauss-Kahn\'s ill-fated trip to New York. The reports allege the expenses were covered by the prostitution ring.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that "prostitutes were brought from France for these parties," saying there were at least "three trips to the U.S. which were for orgies." The person said the "last trip was just before the Sofitel case."

Paying prostitutes isn\'t illegal in France, but encouraging prostitution by offering them to others and using corporate funds to pay for them is.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn\'s lawyers have stated repeatedly that their client wished to be heard by Lille prosecutors "as quickly as possible," saying they wanted to put an end to a "press lynching." A lawyer for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, Henri Leclerc, declined to comment Wednesday.

In a colorful exchange in a recent radio interview, Mr. Leclerc said the former IMF chief wasn\'t aware that the women at these parties were prostitutes. "He could well have not realized it, because you see, in these parties, one is not necessarily clothed and I challenge you to tell a naked prostitute from a naked worldly woman," Mr. Leclerc told Europe 1 radio.

Shortly after his return from New York, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was questioned by French police as part of a separate probe into sexual-assault accusations made by a French novelist against the politician. In October, French prosecutors dismissed the complaint filed by novelist Tristane Banon, saying the three-year statute of limitations on sexual assault had lapsed.

The French Socialist party has distanced itself from Mr. Strauss-Kahn. After the initial disbelief that followed his New York arrest, and early demands for deeper investigations, his closest allies within the party rallied other contenders in the October party primaries and backed Francois Hollande as the candidate. Pierre Moscovici, who had been regarded as Mr. Strauss-Kahn\'s lieutenant within the Socialist party, is now managing Mr. Hollande\'s election campaign.

Courtesy: wsj