Zahia D and the French footballers.

Zahia D., the call girl currently burning up French media, has admitted she had sex with football stars Franck Ribéry and Karim Benzema when she was still under age.


French police questioned soccer internationals Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema this Tuesday as part of an investigation into an alleged under-age prostitution ring, a legal source said.

The footballers were detained at the request of an investigating magistrate probing allegations that a Champs Elysees nightclub provided clients access to minors working as call girls, the source close to the inquiry said.



One of the young women who is alleged to have met clients at the club had already testified to investigators earlier in the year that she had relations with the two players when she was still under age.

If they are charged and convicted of soliciting and paying for sex with aminor, the pair face three years in jail and a fine of 45 000 euros ($58000), but only if it is proved they knew she was under-age.



Agrim-faced Ribery arrived at the headquarters of the Paris vice squad with an acquaintance but refused to answer questions from reporters.

Boulogne-born27-year-old midfielder Ribery plays for Bayern Munich in Germany and was a member of France's ill-fated squad at this month's 2010 World Cupin South Africa, which went out in the first round.

Real Madrid striker Benzema is only 22, but missed out on this year's French team,despite playing in much of the World Cup qualifying campaign.



Ribery has previously confirmed to police that he had sex with the young woman, but insists he did not know she was a minor. Benzema has not publicly addressed the allegations.

The young woman, Zahia Dehar,is now 18 years and four months old. She has been questioned by police and gave a tell-all interview to the news and gossip weekly Paris Matchafter the scandal erupted.

She described selling sexual encounters to Ribery in 2009 and to Benzema in 2008, while she was under-age, and with a third French player, 30-year-old Panathinaikos winger Sidney Govou, in March, when she was an adult.



Dehar has also said the players did not know she was a minor. In France the general age of consent is 15 years, but in the case of prostitution a young person remains a minor until he or she reaches 18.

The footballers became caught up in the investigation after detectives probing rumours of a vice ring bugged the Zaman Cafe, an expensive night spot just off Paris's most glamorous street, the Champs Elysees.

The prostitute at the centre of the scandal that has rocked French football has admitted to having sex with international stars Franck Ribéry, Karim Benzema and Sidney Govou, the French daily Le Monde reported.

The report in Le Monde is based on an investigation carried out by France’s vice squad, which the newspaper obtained.
 
According to the report, Zahia D., as the young woman is known,said that Bayern Munich forward Frank Ribéry paid her to travel to Bavaria in the spring of 2009, when she was 17 years old.


 
The Bayern Munich striker in turn admitted to having sex with Zahia and paying for the trip, but denies paying her for sex. He claims to have been unaware she was under 18 at the time. Zahia said she lied to Ribéry about her age.
 
The report added that Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema met with Zahia in 2008, when she was 16 years old and Benzema 21. Benzema is expected to face the vice squad’s questioning on Wednesday afternoon.
 
However, Marseille star Hatem Ben Arfa, whose name has also surfaced in the affair, was not mentioned by Zahia, according to Le Monde.


 
As soon as the story was originally published, online social networks were flooded with attempts to uncover the woman’s identity.
 
The Facebook account of a certain Zahia, whose surname begins with D, and who is a "friend" of Abou Show, the suspected pimp in the sex scandal, was widely shared on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

 
 
Zahia leaves her mark on Ribéry
 
Ribery’s alleged involvement in the scandal continues to top headlines, and not without consequences for the French footballer.
 
According to the Spanish press, Ribéry can give up hope of joining either Real Madrid or Barcelona, both of whom he was in discussions with for a transfer.
 
Bayern Munich has so far remained tight-lipped over the affair. Butthis could provide the Bavarian club with an opportunity to shed Ribéry, who has been vocal about his desire to part with the team.
 

 

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