(Image source from: Pimping - Dominique Strauss-Kahn to testify })

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is to begin testifying in a French court for pimping. He is accused of helping people to procure sex workers for an alleged prostitution ring. An ex-prostitute testified in the court that she had been chosen specifically to be with him at a sex party there. The one-time potential candidate for the French presidency admits attending sex parties but denied that he knows the women were prostitutes. Consorting with prostitutes is not illegal in France, but supplying them to others is. If found guilty, he will have to face a maximum of 10 years of jail term and €1.5 million (£1.13m) as fine.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 65 and widely known by his initials DSK, is expected to give evidence, but has not attended the trial since it opened on 2 February. The day before he was due to testify, an ex-prostitute named Mounia described how she had been paid €900 (£690) by a businessman, she explained how she had been with one person at the party, she was asked who that was. "With DSK," she said.

Mr Roquet, one of the men who organised the parties, said on Monday that he had taken part for "professional" purposes. The former head of the International Monetary Fund is accused of using his business contacts to hire women for sex parties in Paris, Lille and Washington. Among the 13 co-accused are luxury hotel managers, a lawyer, a former police commissioner and a brothel owner nicknamed "Dodo the Pimp".

By Premji