Managing director of IMF charged with sexual assault

THE MANAGING director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn was yesterday charged with a criminal sexual …

THE MANAGING director of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn was yesterday charged with a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.

The charges came after a chambermaid told New York police she was attacked by Mr Strauss-Kahn at his $3,000 a night suite in the Sofitel Hotel near Times Square in Manhattan, on Saturday.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was due to appear before a judge in New York early this morning. His attorney Benjamin Brafman said he would plead not guilty. “He denies all charges against him,” said Mr Brafman.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, who was until this weekend the front-runner to win the 2012 French presidential election, has been centrally involved in efforts to stem the euro zone debt crisis and steered the IMF in agreeing bailout loan deals for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

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He was due to have met the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin yesterday, and finance ministers from the euro group today and tomorrow.

The chambermaid told police she entered Mr Strauss-Kahn’s suite on the 28th floor of the Sofitel Hotel, at 45 West 44th Street, at 1pm on Saturday. The 32-year-old said she intended to clean the suite, and did not know Mr Strauss-Kahn was inside. According to the New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne, Mr Strauss-Kahn (62) emerged from the bathroom naked, locked the hotel room door, chased the chambermaid and pushed her onto the bed, where he is alleged to have attempted to rape her.

She broke free, but it is alleged he overpowered her and dragged her into the bathroom where it is claimed he forced her to perform oral sex and attempted to tear off her underclothes.

The chambermaid fled and alerted hotel staff, who called the emergency number 911. She was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment for trauma and minor injuries. Her identity and nationality have not been made public.

By the time police arrived at his suite, Mr Strauss-Kahn had left, apparently in a hurry. Investigators found his mobile telephone and other personal belongings. Police said they also uncovered forensic evidence containing DNA.

Three hours and 40 minutes after the alleged assault, detectives from the New York and New Jersey Port Authority tracked Mr Strauss-Kahn to the first-class cabin of Air France flight 23 at John F Kennedy airport. The flight was due to take off 10 minutes later, but had been kept idling in its stand pending the arrival of the detectives.

Mr Strauss-Kahn went with detectives and was not handcuffed. He was taken to the sex crimes unit in the Harlem precinct, where he spent Saturday night in a holding cell.

“Mr Strauss-Kahn has retained legal counsel, and the IMF has no comment on the case,” the IMF said in a statement, as they announced they would hold an informal board meeting last night to discuss how to proceed following the arrest.

Recent polls placed Mr Strauss-Kahn as the opponent most likely to defeat Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential election in France.

His wife, American-born French journalist Anne Sinclair, issued a statement saying she did not believe “for a single second” the accusations levelled against her husband. “I do not doubt his innocence will be established. I appeal for restraint and decency,” she added.

The French government and Mr Strauss-Kahn’s colleagues in the socialist party stressed he is innocent until proven guilty. Some of his allies spoke of a plot or trap to discredit him.