Strauss-Kahn faces new obstacle to the House as U.S. woes ease

Former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn smiles as he departs for a hearing at the New York State Supreme Courthouse in New York on July 1, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Lucas JacksonBy Pauline Mevel and Noeleen Walder

PARIS / NEW YORK. Tue, July 5, 2011 2: 00 pm EDT

PARIS / NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dominique Strauss-Kahn was hit by a new complaint of attempted rape in France on Tuesday, a new obstacle to any return policy, even if the U.S. charges sexual assault against him may be lifted this month.

The New York Post quoted an anonymous senior investigator as saying prosecutors would abandon their charges at a hearing of the Court in two weeks, or even earlier, because of doubts about the credibility of the alleged victim.

In Paris, however, French writer, Tristane Banon filed a legal complaint that Strauss-Kahn tried to assault in 2003, when she was 22, his lawyer, David Koubbi told Reuters.

Banon, an author and journalist, gave a graphic account in a broadcast TV in 2007 from his allegation Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in an interview in an apartment in Paris. Tuesday was the first time that she took legal action.

The complaint will be reviewed by a judge who, as a matter of time, questioned the Banon and Strauss-Kahn, sending researchers to the United States if necessary, before deciding to place the French under investigation or dismiss the case.

In another twist to a saga which has attracted a large part of the world, the servant of the hotel who accused Strauss-Kahn in May to try to violate sued the New York Post and four of its journalists Tuesday to reports that she was a prostitute.

Signs indicating that the U.S. accusations are Untangling triggered a series of political fighting that threatens to poison the run-up to the election Presidential April 2012 that Strauss-Kahn had been to win for the left end.

French, furious, left their star candidate has been all but hit the election race, dismissed the complaint of Banon in addition to evidence that the enemies of Strauss-Kahn are determined to bring him down.

"Fate of Strauss-Kahn was ripped him." "All his friends are asking how it is possible that a man who is the Director of the IMF and a presidential candidate found in prison a few days before he submitted his candidacy", said socialist MP Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, a close ally of Strauss-Kahn.

"It is clearly a conspiracy against the Socialist Party", he told LCI television.

Put A an allegation of Banon, his television account that had name of Strauss-Kahn bleeped out, Cambadelis, said: "It's the manipulation by a young woman who wants to extort funds at Dominique through a complaint of rape."

Koubbi told French television M6 who speak of a plot against Strauss-Kahn was "nonsense."

Strauss-Kahn to present plans a counterclaim against Banon, his lawyer said Monday, a systematic response in France on the filing of a legal complaint against a party who rejects the fault.

STRAUSS-KAHN FUTURE IMPRECI

Banon may dismal after a preliminary inquiry, unless the judge believes there is tangible evidence of an attempted sexual assault. As the years have expired since the alleged incident, it might be conflicting statements of the witnesses on the side of little maintains a judgment of the Court.

Regardless of the outcome, since the end of week opinion polls suggest that more than half of French voters think that the political career of Strauss-Kahn is already complete.

François Hollande, new election favourite the left, was dragged in the imbroglio Tuesday, when he asked during a trip to Martinique in the Caribbean to respond to the allegation of Banon that he had known about the incident in 2003 and encouraged at the time of prosecution.

"I really want to put an end to this controversy, rumours and gossip," Holland said to journalists in Fort-de-France. "It's all become rather unbearable."

A judge released Strauss-Kahn of house arrest, Friday, although that charges of attempted rape remained in place, after prosecutors said the hotel maid changed details of its history.

"We all know this case is not sustainable," The New York Post cited its source said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the New York district prosecutor's Office would not confirm that prosecutors plan to drop charges, saying they were still investigating the case.

During this time, the Guinean immigrant in 32 years has brought a trial before a court in the Bronx, accusing the position of the publication of defamatory articles between 2-4 July. The position was not available for comment.

Sudden reversals of fortune Strauss-Kahn have angered many French, who saw its parades before the cameras, poorly shaven and handcuffed, in New York as a gross violation of his rights.

The Socialist Party, of the difficulty to find a candidate that can match the expertise and experience, Strauss-Kahn said that it is little likely that he could make a late bid for the party primary October, but it would not close the door if he did.

"Strauss-Kahn is now not a man who is hungry for power," said Cambadelis. "It is in a period of healing, rehabilitation, reconstruction, he is a man who was injured.

(Other reports by Anthony Boadle Washington and Dominique Bareto in Fort-de-France;) Written by Catherine Bremer; (Editing by Louise Ireland)