IT READS like the synopsis of a trashy airport novel: sex, movie stars, politicians, Arab princes, arms deals and the courageous investigation of an obstinate, incorruptible - and publicity-hungry - judge. But the evidence to be presented to a criminal court in Paris this week also has a disturbing side - or, rather, two disturbing sides.
The case uncovers the brutal methods used to snare young women - some as young as 15 - into a call-girl agency specialising in wealthy, high- profile clients. It also exposes attempts by the French government machine to block an investigation which might embarrass senior politicians and damage French interests abroad. Six people are charged with the running of an international prostitution ring, whose call-girls entertained the actor Robert de Niro, the former tennis player, Wojtek Fibak, two senior but unnamed French politicians and several Gulf princes.
The agency specialised in tricking, or trapping, star-struck teenage girls into selling their bodies with the promise of careers as models or actresses. At one point, according to the report of the investigating judge, the agency became a kind of approved dealer in girls, operating with the connivance, if not the blessing, of the French foreign ministry and French secret services.
By steering Middle East arms clients towards girls from a known, and closely watched, agency, there was thought to be a reduced risk of blackmail, or the leaking of secret negotiations. The woman named by French magazines at the time has adamantly denied the story. The allegation does not form part of the final judicial report. The two principal accused are Jean-Pierre Bourgeois, 51, a failed fashion and glamour photographer and Annika Brumark, 50, a Swedish former model and one-time beauty queen.
They, and four others, will be charged before the Tribunal Correctionel in Paris tomorrow with procurement or complicity in procurement. Prostitution is legal in France; procurement is not. Mr Bourgeois also faces possible additional charges of rape. The French Brigade de Repression de Proxenetisme the equivalent of the Vice Squad traced 89 young women - would-be models or actresses - who said they had been tricked or sometimes physically constrained by Ms Brumark and Mr Bourgeois into working for them.
