While making no attempt to deny his involvement in the sado-masochistic orgy revealed by a British tabloid,
FIA president
Max Mosley has confirmed that the expose came as a shock to his family.
Mosley was filmed taking part in a sex session with as many as five prostitutes, but insists that the Nazi element described by the
News of the World was entirely a figment of the journalist's imagination, designed to pick up on his father's Fascist leanings. Mosley's lawyer, James Price, said the story had been motivated by a desire to bring Mosley down, using a combination of his family name and its own reputation for 'sexual titillation' to create fantasy out of reality.
Confirming that he had indulged in 'corporal punishment' sessions for around 45 years, the 68-year old admitted that he had paid for the services of five prostitutes, but insisted that there had been no Nazi connotation to the orgy.
"There was not even a hint of that, certainly not in my mind and, I'm convinced, not in the minds of any of the other participants," he told the court, "It simply didn't arise.
"All my life, I have had hanging over me my antecedents, my parents, and the last thing I want to do in some sexual context is be reminded of it. I can think of few things more unerotic than Nazi role-play.
"I fundamentally disagree with the suggestion that any of this is depraved, [and] fundamentally disagree with the fact that it is immoral. I think it is a perfectly harmless activity, provided it is between consenting adults who want to do it, are of sound mind, and it is in private.
"If I was caught drink-driving, or grossly speeding, I think that would be [relevant to my position as head of the FIA], but things of the nature discussed are, I think, completely out of the scope of my work and have no connection to it whatsoever."
