IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged yesterday with the sexual assault and attempted rape of a New York chambermaid, a scandal which could derail his ambitions to run for the French presidency.
The charges included “criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment, attempted rape” and “assaulting a 32-year-old girl in a hotel room,” a police spokesman told reporters.
The bombshell news concerning the 62-year-old IMF chief, comes at a crucial time for the International Monetary Fund, one of the pillars of the world’s financial system, as it tries to help shore up the debt-ridden euro zone.
The IMF chief was arrested, charged by New York police and held overnight in the Harlem neighbourhood at a special unit for sexual harassment, after a maid at the top class Sofitel hotel alleged he had assaulted her when he got out of his shower naked.
The New York Times reported that according to one law enforcement official “investigation in the hotel room uncovered forensic evidence that would contain DNA.”
But Mr Strauss-Kahn’s wife, high-profile French television journalist Anne Sinclair, dismissed the allegations against her husband.
“I do not believe for one second the accusations brought against my husband. I have no doubt his innocence will be established,” she said in a statement.
From early yesterday a media gaggle gathered outside the police station, and there was a buzz as a young blond woman wrapped in what appeared to be a white sheet was driven into the building. It was not known immediately who she was.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who has been widely praised for his stewardship of the IMF, is a leading member of the Socialist party and well-known on the French political scene. He had been expected to challenge center-right French President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential race, and even though he has not yet officially declared his candidacy he had been topping the opinion polls.
News of his arrest threw the Socialist party into disarray, and could prove a boost for Mr Sarkozy and his rightwing UMP which is also facing a challenge from the far-right National Front and its leader Marine Le Pen.
In a dramatic intervention, Mr Strauss-Kahn was taken off a flight from John F. Kennedy airport just minutes before take-off.