Diallo's lawyers go to France to prepare civil case

Aug 23, 2011, 14:36 GMT

Paris - A lawyer for the New York hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape on Tuesday accused a French official of trying to bribe a woman who was considering testifying against the economist.

Thibault de Montbrial, who represents Nafissatou Diallo's legal team in France, confirmed that he had filed a lawsuit in a Paris court earlier Tuesday, accusing a politician in Strauss-Kahn's stronghold of Sarcelles of trying to interfere with a witness.

He did not name the politician.

Addressing a press conference with Douglas Wigdor, one of Diallo's lawyers, de Montbrial said a deputy to the mayor of Sarcelles, who is a known supporter of Strauss-Kahn, had approached friends of the woman asking how much money it would take to buy her silence.

The offer came after the woman from Sarcelle, who now lives in the US, had met with Diallo's lawyers to discuss her experience of Strauss-Kahn, de Montbrial said.

The latest move by Diallo's lawyers came as New York prosecutors prepared to drop the charges against Strauss-Kahn, in a stunning climax to the sensational three-month case.

The prosecutors, in a petition to the Supreme Court of the State of New York on Monday, said Diallo's credibility as a witness had been 'seriously undermined' by inconsistencies in her account of the events of May 14, and the fact that she had lied about her past, including claiming she was gangraped in her native Guinea. Diallo later retracted the claim.

'If we do not believe her beyond a reasonable doubt, we cannot ask a jury to do so,' the prosecutors wrote.

Wigdor reacted indignantly.

'I'm not saying this case was a slam dunk, but no case for sexual assault is,' he said.

'Unless you had a victim who came over on the Mayflower ... everyone has some issues,' he argued.

Strauss-Kahn still faces a possible trial.

Diallo filed a civil lawsuit on August 8, seeking an unspecified amount in damages over the alleged assault.

'The civil case will not go to trial for about two years,' Wigdor said. The lawyers were 'still speaking to many women ... all over the world.'

Once the criminal charges are dropped Strauss-Kahn will be free to return to France, where members of his Socialist Party have expressed joy and relief at the prospect of the charges being dropped and begun speculating about a future public role for the economist.

Before his arrest Strauss-Kahn had been tipped as a contender for the French presidency in 2012. A presidential bid now appears far-fetched, but leading Socialists have suggested his economic expertise could be put to use in the party.

Strauss-Kahn's return will be coloured by the fact that he also faces an investigation for attempted rape in France.

Police are conducting a preliminary investigation into claims by writer Tristane Banon that Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her during an interview in 2003.

Strauss-Kahn has rejected the allegations as 'imaginary.'

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