Paris: Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his
wife are suing a top aide of French President Nicolas Sarkozy
and several media outlets over reports linking him to a
prostitution probe, their lawyers said on Tuesday.
The disgraced former IMF chief and his multi-
millionaire wife Anne Sinclair claim their right to privacy
has been breached -- an offence under French law -- by the
media and by comments made by Sarkozy aide Henri Guaino.
Strauss-Kahn's name has been linked to a judicial
investigation into an illegal prostitution ring operating out
of luxury hotels in the northern French city of Lille and a
string of Belgian brothels.
Press reports based on leaks from the investigation
have said prostitutes from the Lille network were taken to
Paris and Washington to entertain the then IMF director at
orgies in restaurants and five star hotels.
Strauss-Kahn has demanded to be questioned by the
judges and called for a probe into the leaks, but it is not
yet clear whether he will face charges.
His lawyers said today they had served writs on the
daily newspaper Le Figaro and the weekly magazines L'Express,
Nouvel Observateur, Paris Match and VSD.
They are also planning to press charges against Guaino
over a television interview in which he said that in the
Strauss-Kahn affair "one is in a zone where private life meets
criminality".
Strauss-Kahn, a 62-year-old Socialist politician and
former presidential hopeful, resigned from the International
Monetary Fund in May after he was arrested and accused of
attempting to rape a New York hotel maid.
The US case against him eventually collapsed, but he
has been dogged by scandal since returning to France.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 19:59