Strauss-Kahn to end his silence in TV interview Sunday

Sep 16, 2011, 12:10 GMT

Paris - Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will end his silence over the sexual assault case that buried his ambitions of becoming French president in a television interview Sunday, TF1 broadcaster said Friday.

Strauss-Kahn will be interviewed on TF1's evening news programme by veteran anchor Claire Chazal, the station said.

Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, is a former TF1 presenter and a friend of Chazal.

Before his arrest in New York on May 14 on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid, Strauss-Kahn had been the favourite to win next year's presidential elections.

Prosecutors last month dropped the charges, saying that while there was evidence of a hurried sexual encounter between Strauss-Kahn and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, they could not rely on her testimony to prove it was forced after she had lied about elements of her past.

He still faces a possible trial after Diallo in August launched civil proceedings against him.

In France, he could also face charges. On Monday, he was questioned by police in Paris over allegations by writer Tristane Banon that he attempted to rape her in 2003.

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