Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at 10 Downing Street in London to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Macaulay, March 27. Photo Credit: PR PhotosApril 15, 2008 (Sawf News) - A Swiss charity that runs a children's hospital in Cambodia has declined to accept a $91,000 donation from the sale of a nude photo of France's First Lady Carla Bruni, terming it "inappropriate as Cambodians disapprove of exploiting female flesh for money".
Dr Beat Richner, the doctor who runs the hospital, said the donation will embarrass families of children treated at hospitals, reports Mirror.
"It would be seen as an insult. In Cambodia use of nudity is not understood as it is in the West," he said.
"The idea behind this gift was to get publicity for the auction and the photographer. It was using us," he added.
The cash will now go to a research institute.
The black and white photo was shot by Michel Comte in 1993, when Italian born Bruni was a model and long before she met French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Gert Elfering, a collector who acquired the photo from Comte, auctioned it through Christie's in New York.
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