Mosley 'embarrassed', but refuses to go.

Max Mosley has rejected calls to resign from his position as President of the FIA, after refusing to deny his participation in a sado-masochistic orgy with five prostitutes but insisting there had been no 'Nazi connotations' as has been suggested.

The News of the World led its coverage on Sunday with the explosive front page headline 'F1 boss Max Mosley has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers', and subsequently posted a video on its website.

Max Mosley has rejected calls to resign from his position as President of the FIA, after refusing to deny his participation in a sado-masochistic orgy with five prostitutes but insisting there had been no 'Nazi connotations' as has been suggested.

The News of the World led its coverage on Sunday with the explosive front page headline 'F1 boss Max Mosley has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers', and subsequently posted a video on its website.

The ?2,500, five-hour experience in which the tabloid claimed the 67-year-old participated allegedly included re-enacting concentration camp scenes in which girls wearing mock death camp uniforms were repeatedly whipped by commandants clad in Nazi war uniforms and barking orders in German.

After maintaining his silence for three days, however, now it appears Mosley has finally spoken out, with a letter he sent to FIA officials that has been obtained by the Associated Press confirming his presence at the orgy - which the News of the World stated took place in an underground Chelsea 'torture chamber' close to his London home - but refuting any suggestions of 'Nazi connotations' to the role-playing and explaining that he spoke in German simply because at least two of the five prostitutes involved were German.

"I have received a very large number of messages of sympathy and support," Mosley wrote, "suggesting that my private life is not relevant to my work and that I should continue in my role. I am grateful and with your support I intend to follow this advice.

"The publications by the News of the World are a wholly unwarranted invasion of my privacy, and I intend to issue legal proceedings against the newspaper in the UK and other jurisdictions."

The head of motorsport's governing body has spent the past three days in heavy consultation with his lawyers, and it is believed that the crux of his legal action against the News of the World will focus on the breach of privacy. He insisted that he had been the victim of a 'deliberate and calculated personal attack' and 'covert investigation' into his private life, subsequently brought to his attention by 'impeccable high-level source close to the UK police and security services'.

"Regrettably, you are now familiar with the results of this covert investigation," read the letter, as printed in The Times, "and I am very sorry if this has embarrassed you or the club.

"I shall now devote some time to those responsible for putting this into the public domain but, above all, I need to repair the damage to my immediate family, who are the innocent and unsuspecting victims of this deliberate and calculated personal attack."

Meanwhile, The Times claims there is widespread disbelief and disgust at Mosley's apparent insistence on remaining in his role, with the scandal having been discussed at boardroom level by most of Formula 1's major manufacturers, and rumours that some of them are considering issuing a statement calling for his resignation.

The FIA has confirmed that Mosley will not attend this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. F1 ringmaster and close friend and ally Bernie Ecclestone had warned his long-time business associate in an interview with The Times that the Bahrain Royal Family "wouldn't like" the revelations [see separate story - click here].

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