The French daily Le Monde announced it had obtained a confidential transcript of Strauss-Kahn’s police questioning in which he admitted that he used “unsuitable and inappropriate” terms to refer to “a person of the female sex.”
According to Le Monde, Strauss-Khan had referred to the women as “equipment” in a text message to a businessman friend who has also been charged in the same case.
Last Year, Strauss-Khan resigned as the head of the IMF and ended his ambitions to become France’s President after he was charged with raping a New York hotel maid in the US. The case was later dropped.
He has also been questioned as a suspect for his participation in an alleged illegal prostitution ring in northern France.
Former IMF chief insists he was unaware of the fact that many of the female guests were paid to attend. However, prosecutors believe he knew the women had been procured and paid for.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was once a Socialist Party leader, appeared to have a good chance of defeating the incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 French presidential elections.
Some of Strauss-Kahn’s closest allies claim that the IMF chief was the subject of a smear campaign at a time when opinion polls, including one by French daily le Parisien suggest that 45 percent of the French people saw him as the country’s next president.
Later, a French inquiry into attempted rape claims brought by a French writer Tristane Banon against Strauss-Kahn was also dropped. Prosecutors said there was evidence of sexual assault, however the case was too old to pursue.
TNP/JR
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