Solicitors for Paris probe charges of Strauss - Kahn (AP)

PARIS - the Paris Prosecutor, said Friday it has opened a preliminary investigation into the charges by a French writer who former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her.

The probe comes just as New York prosecutors are weighing to go forward with a case in which a woman in room charged with Strauss-Kahn or non - long considered a top competitor for the Presidency of the France - of sexual assault. Questions have emerged about the credibility of the servant, throwing the case of prestige in the confusion.

Back in France, writer and journalist Tristane Banon filed a criminal complaint this week saying that Strauss-Kahn attacked in an apartment empty in 2003 in an interview for a book project, struggling with her on the floor, while he was trying to tear off his clothes.

An official at the Paris Prosecutor's Office, said Friday that a preliminary investigation was initiated on the complaint. The official was not authorized to be named publicly because the investigation is ongoing.

The probe allows researchers to a brigade of special police to question Banon and loved ones of him on the incident for eight years.

Also, it could allow researchers in the question Strauss-Kahn, but probably not less than and up to what it returns France. New York authorities have kept his passport pending a decision on what happens in the case of the it.

Strauss-Kahn smoking at the head of the Monetary Fund International, after he was arrested in New York in May to charges of assault by a servant of the hotel. Strauss-Kahn denies wrongdoing, and last week, he was released without bail after prosecutors said publicly that the lady has a history of lying.

Questions have also surfaced on the viability of the French charge against Strauss-Kahn.

Banon is no official report of victims after the alleged attack and Banon lawyer describes any physical evidence that could be brought against Strauss-Kahn.

Banon has recognized the difficulty of proving her case, saying that it has taken steps to deal with the trauma of the alleged incident and refute those who say that she lied.

She stated in an interview with L'Express magazine that Strauss-Kahn grabbed his arm and hand until the two fell to the floor of his apartment and fought for several minutes, with the politician tries to open his jeans and bra and put his fingers in his mouth and undergarments.

Counsel for Strauss-Kahn called the "imaginary" incident and threatened to file a criminal complaint accusing Banon of defamation.

After the preliminary probe in his application, which can take weeks or months, the Paris Prosecutor's Office could decide to drop the case or to continue the investigation, which could lead to a trial.

The probe will help prosecutors determine if his allegations support a charge of attempted rape, rather than the less serious crime of sexual assault. Under French law, sexual assault is an attack that does not involve an attempt to penetrate the victim. It has a three-year limitation period - meaning the 2003 incident would be old to sue - compared to 10 for attempted rape.

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Angela Charlton contributed to this report.

Charge of attempted rape fresh strikes Strauss - Kahn (AFP)

PARIS (AFP) - a French writer filed a complaint alleging that former IMF leader and political leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her about eight years, his lawyer said Tuesday.

In a note to a single word, David Koubbi "confirmed" to AFP that he had sent a complaint by his client, aged 32 years Tristane Banon, Paris prosecutors which, under French law, will now be decide to launch a criminal investigation.

Complaint of Banon, which relates to an alleged assault of 2003 on Strauss-Kahn, came just as the Socialist heart of 62 years hoped to shake a charge of attempted rape previous to the United States.

The Economist had been charged with attempted rape, abduction and sexual assault of a hotel in New York City cleaner, but the case of the alleged victim has been weakened by the admission of the prosecution that he doubted his honesty.

Strauss-Kahn American lawyers hope he will soon be deleted in this case, but if he returns to the House of France, he now faces the prospect of a second inquiry far more earlier alleged assault.

It is in turn could overshadow all hope, he had to return to the first French political line, having already been favorite defeat pollsters outgoing centre-right leader Nicolas Sarkozy in the race for the presidency next year.

But in a brief exchange with the press French network i-Tele, Koubbit insisted that he had "no intention what in fact a case policy."

Banon had already publicly accused Strauss-Kahn, to try to force himself on his "like a chimpanzee rut", but said that it was satisfied at the time, that person would take his word against the powerful politician if it brought an action.

Strauss-Kahn is still formally charged and awaits trial in New York, but a judge released him from house arrest last week after prosecutors expressed doubts about the credibility of the accuser.

US media reported Tuesday that prosecutors were about to drop the charges.

Banon, a writer and French journalist, told the express weekly magazine that "seeing Strauss-Kahn released then after dinner in a restaurant in fantasy with friends, which makes me sick."

She repeated her account of the alleged attack in 2003, saying that Strauss-Kahn had his hands in my pants."after he is pulling my jeans and BRA

She added: "eight years ago, when I spoke to file a complaint, everyone made me believe that this would lead nowhere." In the matter it is word of one person against the other. »

When the complaint of Banon is received by the prosecutors, they must decide if there are grounds to initiate an investigation which could lead to formal charges.

Some allies of Strauss-Kahn in the French opposition Socialist Party have suggested that he might return to defeat Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential election of the next year if it is disabled in the case of New York.

Some supporters of Strauss-Kahn has alleged that the arrest was a set-up.

Banon legal action complicates the prospects of him returning to the glory and prompted embarrassing questions for the Socialists who, Banon, knew his test alleged at the time and did nothing.

She said the former Socialist Party leader François Hollande, currently polling as the main Socialist presidential candidate, was aware of the charges, but he insisted that he had "no detailed knowledge" of the alleged incident.

France, an attempt of rape is punishable by 15 years in prison.

Counsel for Strauss - Kahn Henri Leclerc and Frederique Baulieu Banon dismissed as "imaginary" and has threatened to sue him for defamation.

She first publicly alleged the meeting with Strauss-Kahn in a string of broadcast television in 2007, saying: it rejected the politician to his.

His Socialist allies of mark opportunistic Banon.

"Tristane Banon was telling this story for years.". Now, it brings a complaint, ", said Jean-Marie Le Guen Parliament." "Clearly some people are not happy about the return of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Attention moves to the accuser to Strauss - Kahn (AFP)

NEW YORK (AFP)-l'Attention in the case of sex of Dominique Strauss-Kahn moved to the accuser, a servant of hotel in New York that is now in credibility of mounting problems, such as the freedom of popular leader ex - MFIS with strict bail conditions.

The French politician remained Sunday in his townhouse rented in Lower Manhattan, but his wife, Anne Sinclair, left the townhouse in the afternoon and smiled to journalists before disappearing in a black sedan.

Unlike other occasions, il he has no bodyguards, New York City police car which had been parked there weeks had disappeared.

As the attorneys scrambled to save a sort of evidence against the head once gripper of top lender in the world, Strauss-Kahn defence team denied the allegations of the tabloid that he committed sex for money with the maid hotel in New York.

"He was undisputed between the parties because no there was no discussion of money," the team, led by lawyers Benjamin Brafman and William Taylor, said in a statement.

The New York Post reported Sunday that Strauss-Kahn and his accuser, an immigrant from 32 years of Guinea, engaged in sex acts in his suite of luxury and then he "was a money waiting after the fact, but he was dismissive."

The Post, quoting a close source of investigation of the defence team, said that the servant often exchanged sex for money with male guests at the Sofitel Hotel.

While the charges against the old stand of 62 years, the case has imploded almost after prosecutors agreed that their investigations of the accuser found she had lied to a grand jury on the matter.

In a letter to the defence lawyers, the Attorney of District of Manhattan Cyrus Vance said the woman had provided a "fake" story of his life - including a rape she admitted later never had - in its U.S. asylum process.

Among other details gleaned on the servant were its possible links to criminal activities, including the drug trade and money laundering, an enforcement official told the New York Times.

Within a day of attempted rape, the demoiselle was recorded talking on the phone with a boyfriend jailed for possessing (180 kilograms) of 400 pounds of marijuana and discussing the benefits of the prosecution of the charges, according to the newspaper.

When the conversation has been translated Fula, mother tongue of the servant, concerned researchers.

"She said words to the effect of,"don't worry, this guy has a lot of money."." I know what I do,'"a responsible time of would have."

The paper said that the man is one of several people who made several cash deposits totalling about $100,000 in the bank account of women over the past two years.

House arrest Strauss-Kahn has raised hopes among supporters of Strauss-Kahn that the case will collapse and the favorite of the Socialist Party will return to the political frontline, or even as a candidate to challenge French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 election.

Its candidate in the presidential election, Ségolène Royal, Socialist colleague, said that it had no problems to delay the process to make room for him.

Current time in the Socialist Party primary is on 13 July.

The US authorities still hold his passport pending possible trial, which means that Strauss-Kahn cannot travel outside the United States, while its deposit of 1 $ 1 million and $ 5 million bond will be now returned.

Despite credibility broken of the servant, Vance has promised to continue the investigation until prosecutors had discovered all the facts and noted that the charges had not been dropped.

Legal analysts said however, the case was probably dead.

According to the testimony of initial grand jury of the accuser, she flees luxury hotel suite Strauss-Kahn immediately after the attack on May 14 and waited in the corridor before informing a supervisor.

But prosecutors revealed, the woman later changed his story, admitting that she actually cleaning another room and even returned to start the cleaning of the Strauss-Kahn suite before alert his bosses.

According to prosecutors, the woman also lied on his application for asylum when she joined United States in 2004 and defrauded US tax administration by listing a second non-existent as his dependent child.