DSK to be questioned in sex party investigation

Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Photo / Getty Images

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, ex-chief of the International Monetary Fund, will be "arrested" for 48 hours from tomorrow to face questions about his participation in sex parties with alleged prostitutes in Lille, Paris and Washington.

The garde vue - a formal questioning under arrest conditions - could take three days but is set to last for only two. Strauss-Kahn could then be put under formal investigation for receiving embezzled funds and for complicity in pimping.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was cleared last summer of sexually assaulting a chambermaid in New York, has admitted he took part in sex parties organised by friends.

But the Socialist politician denies knowing that the women were prostitutes or that the parties were funded, without legal authorisation, by companies managed by his friends.

The former International Monetary Fund chief has been demanding to be allowed to give his side of the story for months.

Eight people, including a senior police officer and two managers of the upmarket Hotel Carlton in Lille, have already been placed under formal investigation. They are suspected of having helped to organise the parties, using the funds of private companies.

One of the parties is said to have taken place in Washington DC before Strauss-Kahn's arrest in Manhattan last May.

Investigators believe the parties may have been organised - without the approval of the large companies footing the bill - to obtain business or political favours.

- Independent