By Jonathan Noble Sunday, May 18th 2008, 06:43 GMT
An officer in the British Security Service agency MI5 has been forced to resign after admitting his wife was one of the prostitutes who took part in the orgy with FIA president Max Mosley, according to a report in the Sunday Times.
The newspaper claims that the officer, who cannot be named for security reasons, left the service last month following the revelation that his wife was one of five prostitutes involved in the orgy at the centre of the News of the World expose.
Amid suggestions from Mosley that he was set up by unnamed figures, however, MI5 has strongly denied it was involved in a sting.
"Any suggestion that the service was involved in setting up Mosley is total nonsense," a senior Whitehall official told the Sunday Times.
The officer who was forced to resign had to leave, however, because his wife's activities could have compromised security and left him open to blackmail.
The official added: "I cannot talk about individual cases, but we do expect high standards of behaviour from all staff at all times, both professionally and privately. In any case where a member of staff is believed to have fallen below those standards, action will be taken."
Mosley is facing a confidence vote in his position as president at an FIA General Assembly meeting on June 3, and wrote to the presidents of the national automobile clubs last week warning them the sport's governing body could lose control of F1 if he is forced out.
