IMF chief Strauss-Kahn to undergo tests over sex charge

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has consented to a medical examination over allegations of serious sexual assault.

Ms Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested on Saturday, denies attacking and attempting to rape a hotel maid.

He had been due to appear in court on Sunday but the hearing has been postponed until Monday to allow the forensic tests to be carried out.

The married former French finance minister is also considered a possible Socialist candidate for the presidency.

Mr Strauss-Kahn - often referred to in France simply as DSK - had been detained at JFK airport on Saturday night as he prepared to fly to Europe.

The 62-year-old was kept overnight in a special unit for sexual harassment in New York's Harlem borough and on Sunday, charged with "criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment, and attempted rape".

Police say the 32-year-old woman who made the allegations has formally identified him in a line-up.

Mr Strauss-Kahn had been scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday in Berlin and then attend an EU finance ministers' meeting in Brussels on Monday.

Correspondents say his detention is likely to complicate ongoing efforts to stabilise the finances of struggling eurozone member states.

The Euro fell half a cent to $1.4063 when Asian markets opened on Monday - a six-week low against the dollar - reflecting concerns about the impact the arrest could have on bailouts plans for Portugal and Greece.

'International conspiracy'

Speaking outside court in Manhattan, lawyer William Taylor said Mr Strauss-Kahn had "willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination", adding that he was "tired but fine".

A second lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said his client "intends to vigorously defend these charges and he denies any wrongdoing".

Mr Strauss-Kahn's wife, prominent French journalists Anne Sinclair, has also said she believes he is innocent.

"I do not believe for one second the accusations brought against my husband," she said in a statement sent to the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Mr Strauss-Kahn's allies have also rallied behind him.

Paris regional councillor, Michelle Sabban, told AFP: "I am convinced it is an international conspiracy... This is a new form of political assassination."

Socialist legislator Jean-Marie Le Guen said: "The facts as they were reported today have nothing to do with the Dominique Strauss-Kahn whom we know."

Meanwhile a centre-right opponents of Mr Strauss-Kahn's, Dominique Paille, said if true it would be "an historic moment, but in the negative sense, for French political life".

"I hope that everyone respects the presumption of innocence. I cannot manage to believe this affair," he told French TV.

But the leader of the National Front party, Marine Le Pen, said Mr Strauss-Kahn had been "definitively discredited".

And Mr Strauss-Kahn's biographer, Philippe Martinat, said: "I think his political career is over."

IMF director of external relations, Caroline Atkinson, said the organisation remained "fully functioning and operational".

Source: bbc.co.uk

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