The head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is being held by police in New York in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a chamber maid at Sofitel hotel in Manhattan.
He was held at about 4:40 pm local time last evening, when two detectives of the Port Authority suddenly boarded Air France Flight 23, as the plane idled at the departure gate, John PL Kelly, a spokesman for the agency, was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
“It was 10 minutes before its scheduled departure,” said Kelly. “They were just about to close the doors.” He said Strauss-Kahn was traveling alone and was not handcuffed during the apprehension.
The IMF chief “complied with 
the detectives” directions,” Kelly said. Separately, Browne said that it was about 1 pm local time yesterday when the maid entered Strauss-Kahn”s USD 3,000-a- night suite believing it was unoccupied. As she was in the foyer, “he came out of the bathroom, fully naked, and attempted to sexually assault her,” Browne was quoted as saying by NYT.
“He grabs her, according to her account, and pulls her into the bedroom and onto the bed,” Browne said, adding he locked the door to the suite. “She fights him off, and he then drags her down the hallway to the bathroom, where he sexually assaults her a second time,” he said. At some point during the assault, the woman broke free and “fled, reported it to other hotel personnel, who called 911.
When the police arrived, he was not there,” Browne said, adding Strauss-Kahn appeared to have left in a hurry. Investigators found his cellphone in the room, which he had left behind, and one law enforcement official said that investigation uncovered forensic evidence that would contain DNA. Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer, said he would be representing Strauss-Kahn with William Taylor, an advocated based in Washington. “We have not yet been able to meet with our client and we may have more to say tomorrow,” Brafman told NYT on phone.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, a well-known figure on the French political scene popularly known by his initials DSK, has not officially thrown his hat into the ring to challenge center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential race.
But he had been widely expected to stand, and polls released before news of his arrest broke had put him narrowly ahead of the pack, if he ran, with 26% of the vote.
Strauss-Kahn was supposed to be meeting in Berlin on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about aid to debt-laden Greece, and then join EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. The IMF is responsible for one-third of Greece’s existing loan package, and his expected presence at these meetings underlined the gravity of the Greek crisis.
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