Case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn collapses
Elena Vnorovscaia / Chişinău / Moldova.ORG / -- The sexual assault case against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is near collapse. It is so because the credibility of IMF chief's accuser reportedly is a very doubtful one. Maid appeared to be not such a trustworthy witness.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, was a steward of the world economy and a leading candidate for the French presidency when he was arrested on May 14 and charged with assaulting a hotel maid in New York.
In France commentators immediately suggest that Strauss-Kahn, known as the "great seducer" of French politics for his charm and appetite for women, could have been set up by political opponents.
Strauss-Kahn resigned from the IMF on May 19 and pleaded not guilty on June 6, vehemently denying the allegations. He faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The arrest forced Strauss-Kahn's resignation from the IMF and appeared to end his presidential ambitions, but his political career could be revived if prosecutors drop their case against him.
The prosecutors' investigators had discovered that the woman had had a phone conversation with an incarcerated man within a day of her encounter with Strauss-Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursuing the charges against him. The conversation was recorded.
In addition the man, who had been arrested on charges of possessing 400 pounds of marijuana, was among a number of individuals who had made multiple cash deposits, totaling around $100,000, into the woman's bank account over the last two years.
Prosecutors presented maid’s case before a grand jury, confident in the women's story that Strauss-Kahn sprang naked from the bathroom, chased her down and hall and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him.
Defense lawyers "knew by the second or third day she was not who she claimed to be," one source said.
The maid has told authorities she knew little about the big-money deposits, the sources said.
"She's complicit in those activities," the source said. "She's a rainmaker. She's in with a crew that makes illegal money."
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