Post date: Mar 26, 2012 5:49:59 PM
LILLE, FRANCE (MARCH 26, 2012) (M6) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was grilled by three judges on Monday (March 26) over his role in a prostitution case in the northern French city of Lille that could lead to him being placed under formal investigation.
Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn questioned by judges over his alleged role in a prostitution case in northern France.
The Socialist ex-finance minister, a strong contender to be France's next president until he was hit with sex assault charges in New York last May that were later dropped, appeared at the Lille court two days earlier than scheduled after the date was changed for unknown reasons.
The Lille prosecutor's office said the hearing began on Monday afternoon and would likely run into the evening.
Strauss-Kahn went from being a highly respected politician to being hounded in the world's media as a sexual predator after a New York hotel maid accused him of trying to rape her.
The charges were dropped after prosecutors decided the maid's testimony was unreliable, but Strauss-Kahn was hit with a separate sexual assault accusation in France and on Wednesday his lawyers will be in a Bronx courtroom fighting a civil lawsuit brought against him by the hotel maid.
In Monday's court hearing, he is expected to insist that he was unaware women he met at parties organised by business associates in Lille, Paris and Washington were prostitutes.
Strauss-Kahn has been seeking to restore his reputation as a top global economist with speaking engagements at conferences, but cancelled an appearance at an event in Brussels on Tuesday following protests from European members of parliament.
Earlier in March he had to be bundled into the back of a police car after addressing an event at Britain's Cambridge University to escape a protest by womens' rights activists.
The Lille case centres on allegations that a prostitution ring organized by business acquaintances of Strauss-Kahn's supplied clients at the city's Carlton Hotel.
Investigators could drop all pursuit of Strauss-Kahn or place him under formal investigation on suspicion of complicity in a pimping operation or having benefited from misappropriated company funds, if he knowingly attended prostitute sessions paid for by his executive friends using expense accounts.
In February, Strauss-Kahn was held in police custody in Lille for two days for initial questioning, but he is unlikely to be detained in prison if placed under investigation due to the non-dangerous nature of the allegations.
His lawyer has said he had no reason to think women at the parties in question were prostitutes, noting it was not always easy to spot one when they are undressed.