Judges have confirmed that Dominique Strauss-Kahn will face a pimping inquiry, despite an appeal from the former presidential candidate’s legal team on Wednesday morning.

Mr Strauss-Kahn and four other men are accused of knowing fraudulently obtained money was being paid to the vice girls by a prostitution racket based in Lille, northern France, according to the Telegraph.

Mr Strauss-Kahn admitted attending sex-parties in Lille but denies knowing that some of the women were prostitutes.

Defending his legal client, Henri Leclerc said: "I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman.”

The decision, at the northern-French town of Douai, was rejected by Mr Strauss Kahn’s lawyer who promised to challenge the judgment at France’s Supreme Court.

Mr Stauss-Kahn, a former presidential candidate for the Socialist party, is under "judicial control" on £85,000 bail until authorities decide whether he will stand trial.