THE MAID who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault will testify against him, and has rejected claims she consented to sex with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, her lawyer said yesterday.
“There is nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room,” Jeff Shapiro told US television.
“I think that when the jury hears her testimony and sees her in person, and finally she can come public with this and tell her story, I think that [they will find] their claims of consensual sex or encounters are not true.”
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who denies the charges, is expected to remain in New York’s Rikers Island jail at least until his next court appearance on Friday, when his defence team may again request bail.
His arrest has all but ended Mr Strauss-Kahn’s hopes of running for France’s presidency next year, while raising immediate questions about his leadership of the IMF.
In the only public hint of Mr Strauss-Kahn’s possible line of defence, his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told his arraignment hearing on Monday: “The evidence we believe will not be consistent with a forcible encounter.”
Mr Shapiro said his client, who is from the west African state of Guinea, had not been aware of Mr Strauss-Kahn’s identity until a day after the alleged attack.
“She didn’t have any idea who he was or have any prior dealings with this guy,” he said.
In its first official comment on Mr Strauss-Kahn’s situation, the US government, the fund’s biggest shareholder, said he was clearly unable to go on running the organisation from a prison cell, whatever the legal outcome.
“I can’t comment on the case, but he is obviously not in a position to run the IMF,” US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said. He called for an interim head to be named.
Since the IMF was created in 1945, the position of managing director has gone to a European, and European Commission president José Manuel Barroso said Europe would naturally put forward a candidate to replace him if Mr Strauss-Kahn decided to step down.
Despite calls from China, Brazil and South Africa for the nomination process to be widened, Europeans want to retain the post while the fund plays a central role in efforts to stem the euro zone debt crisis.
John Lipsky, the IMF’s American number two, has temporarily taken on the managing director’s functions, and French officials said he would represent the fund at next week’s G8 summit in Deauville.
The IMF said it had not been in touch with Mr Strauss-Kahn since his arrest but it would be important to do so “in due course”.
Any trial involving Mr Strauss-Kahn could be six months away, and Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter became the most senior European to hint that he should step down.
“Given the situation, that bail has been denied, he has to consider that he would otherwise do damage to the institution,” she said.
The most serious charge the IMF chief faces carries a 25-year prison sentence.
Police sources in the US were quoted saying he had been placed on suicide watch, but purely as a precautionary measure.