Officials rubbish claims that traces of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's DNA have been found on maid's clothes
Officials rubbish claims that traces of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's DNA have been found on maid's clothes
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Playing the victim: The former chief of the International Monetary
Fund is beleived to have told his colleagues that he is living a personal
nightmare. File pic/Getty Images
The evidence could prove that there was a sexual encounter but not that there was violence of any kind, experts said. Strauss-Kahn has denied charges made against him. The French politician, who is racing to find a new home, told his former staff how he is confronting a "personal nightmare". Under house arrest pending trial, he has been rejected by one luxury residence because of his newfound notoriety and must soon leave his temporary apartment.
Charges that he attempted to rape and sexually assault the chambermaid on May 14 forced him to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund last week and torpedoed his chances of standing in the French presidential election next year.
'Am not guilty'
But Strauss-Kahn again denied the accusations in an e-mail message sent to IMF staff on Sunday in which he expressed "profound sadness" at the way he left his post. "I deny in the strongest possible terms the allegations which I now face; I am confident that the truth will come out and I will be exonerated," he wrote.
"In the meantime, I cannot accept that the Fundu00a0-- and you dear colleaguesu00a0-- should in any way have to share my own personal nightmare. So, I had to go."
All holed up
Strauss-Kahn is holed up in the Empire Building at 71 Broadway, where management has apologised to residents and said the new arrival will be gone by "early" this week. His wife Anne Sinclair, had previously arranged a $15,000 (Rs 6.78 lakh) a month apartment on the Upper East Side. But Strauss-Kahn was rejected after residents complained about the bad publicity. His lawyer Benjamin Brafman has said his client will plead not guilty and that he is confident his client will go free.
The defence team has hired a posse of private investigators who are already sifting through the 32-year-old accuser's personal history in New York. Prosecutors told Strauss-Kahn's bail hearing last week that they are also building a "strong" case in support of the accusations. He spent the first days in detention at the notorious Rikers island jail.He now faces seven counts, including the attempted rape charge.
'Buying off'
Friends of Dominque Strauss-Kahn have secretly contacted the family of the maid he is alleged to have sexually assaulted to pay them to drop the case. The alleged victim, who is in protective custody, has an extended family who live in a remote village in Guinea. Associates are alleged to have approached the relatives and offered a seven-figure sum to persuade the maid to withdraw charges.
June 6 Dominique Strauss-Kahn's next appearance in court to make a formal plea
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