The New York police department has accused Strauss-Kahn of assaulting the woman in his suite at a Manhattan hotel. The staffer wasn’t aware the guest hadn’t checked out. Strauss-Kahn was in the shower.
He is said to have emerged naked, assaulted the woman and checked out in a hurry. Strauss-Kahn had by then boarded a flight for Paris at the JFK airport. But the plane was held back at the request of the police and he was escorted out by airport authority detectives and handed over to the police.
“He is being arrested for a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment,” deputy commissioner Paul J.
Browne, the New York police department’s chief spokesperson, said Saturday night. The police have also said they have forensic evidence against Strauss-Kahn. Strauss-Kahn is being represented by lawyers who are expected to make a statement.
The IMF, however, is not defending its managing director. “Mr Strauss-Kahn has retained legal counsel, and the IMF has no comment on the case; all inquiries will be referred to his personal lawyer and to the local authorities,” said Caroline Atkinson, director of external relations. “The IMF remains fully functioning and operational,” she added.
This is not the first time the IMF has come up against its managing director’s extra-curricular activities. He was investigated in 2008 by the organisation for abuse of power over an affair with an IMF economist.
Strauss-Kahn had apologised for an “error in judgement”.
The International Monetary Fund chief has been long expected to be heading home from Washington to run against Sarkozy. He belongs to the opposition Socialist Party and held the position of finance minister in the 1990s.
He took over as IMF managing director in 2007, months before the onset of the global economic crisis, which many believe gave him the chance to carve out for himself a role that kept him in the news back home.
