THE HOTEL MAID who claims she was raped by former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn regularly offered prostitution services to clients – and only went to police after Strauss-Kahn refused to pay for oral sex, US newspaper reports have claimed.
The New York Post, in a series of weekend reports, claimed that the chambermaid who attended Strauss-Kahn’s room at the Sofitel in Manhattan regularly picked up “extraordinary tips” from residents in exchange for sexual favours.
It cited police sources in alleging that the maid, a 32-year-old originally from Guinea, had been identified as a ‘pathological liar’ – with prosecutors claiming she had lied about being a rape victim in Guinea in order to secure asylum in the United States.
In a letter written by prosecutors to Strauss-Kahn’s defence lawyers seen by the paper, the woman is also accused of misrepresenting her income in order to secure social housing. She is also said to have lied about her number of children in order to claim tax benefits.
It is further claimed that the maid perjured herself by claiming she had reported the incident with Strauss-Kahn immediately after it took place – when in fact she cleaned a nearby suite, and Strauss-Kahn’s own, before alerting her supervisor.
In a second report published yesterday, the paper said the maid regularly offered sex to hotel residents and that she had performed oral sex on Strauss-Kahn expecting to be paid afterwards.
When the 62-year-old Frenchman refused to do so, the maid then grew frustrated and alleged that she had been raped.
The reports came in the days after Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest without bail, though the charges remain outstanding. The relaxation apparently came on foot of the background investigation into his accuser.
Bloomberg quoted a representative from the Manhattan district attorney’s office who insisted the charges would still be treated with due diligence, in spite of the new information about the maid.
The spokesman added that there was no evidence to suggest Strauss-Kahn had been deliberately targeted, as the Post had claimed.
Strauss-Kahn has insisted that the encounter – which ultimately led to his resignation as managing director of the IMF – was consensual.
His political allies in France’s Socialist Party have suggested that he could still have a political future in his native country – including as a prospective opponent to Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential election.
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