Strauss-Kahn(left), Tristane Banon(Right)
French writer Tristane Banon is to file a complaint for attempted rape against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, her lawyer said on Monday.
Banon accuses Strauss-Kahn of trying to assault her as she tried to interview him in a Paris flat in 2003.
Strauss-Kahn said he would sue Ms Banon for making false statements.
He was recently freed from house arrest in New York in a separate alleged case. He denies sexually assaulting a hotel maid in the city on 14 May.
Meanwhile, prosecutors of the New York sex assault case are going to drop all sex assault charges against the former IMF chief in the coming weeks because of doubts about his accuser's credibility.
"We all know this case is not sustainable," the newspaper quoted a top investigator in the case as saying.
However, the new sexual assault allegations in France are unlikely to affect his New York trial, experts have opined.
It was shortly after Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York that Banon came forward to say that he had tried to assault her.
She did not go to the police at the time, but did raise the allegation in a TV chat show in 2007, when Strauss-Kahn's name was bleeped out.
Banon's lawyer, David Koubbi, said on Monday that she had instructed him "to file a formal criminal complaint for attempted rape" against Mr Strauss-Kahn. He said the complaint would be filed yesterday to a Paris prosecutor.
He said the alleged incident took place in February 2003, and not in 2002 as previously reported.
Banon, 32, has claimed that during the interview, Strauss-Kahn said he would only speak to her if she held his hand.
According to her version of events, she eventually had to fight him off as they wrestled on the floor and he undid her bra and pulled open her jeans.
0 comments:
Post a Comment