How high-end prostitutes are used to close business

In a world of high-end prostitution, sex is often used to sweeten, or close, business deals.

Sex can also be used to exert pressure with women often sent as a "honeytrap" to seduce men in their hotels, creating the possibility of blackmail down the line.

The practice is particularly prevalent in professions where corruption and bribes are common, said Jean-Sebastien Mallet, an expert on the prostitution sector, highlighting "construction, import-export and the energy sector".

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"In some Arab countries, a businessman who doesn't have a girl in his bedroom will refuse to sign a contract," he said.

Carole, 41, a former prostitute who worked the champagne bars and brothels of Belgium, where the trade is legal, said she was often considered a VIP and offered as a gift to the heads of companies and politicians.

"Companies, sometimes big international ones, would come to see us to ask if a girl could be offered as a present," she said.

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She recalls a car company that wanted to sell three trucks to a local business: "I had to do whatever was necessary to make sure he signed," she said.

The call-girls for these top-end clients, which are solicited 70-80 per cent of the time to conclude business deals, tend to come from relatively comfortable backgrounds.

"They are clearly not poor young Romanians. Most work for networks of brothels or Internet escort companies," said Yves Charpenel, head of anti-prostitution group Fondation Scelles.