Strauss-Kahn Maid Alleges Official Tried to Bribe Witness
The maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in New York filed a complaint against a French official for trying to bribe a witness, a lawyer for the woman said.
The claim was filed today against a deputy mayor of Sarcelles in the northern suburbs of Paris, said Thibault de Montbrial, a lawyer for housekeeper Nafissatou Diallo. He declined to name the person, saying it is in the police file, which isn’t public.
The deputy asked “how much” to keep her quiet about her experience with Strauss-Kahn after she had contacted Diallo’s lawyers about providing evidence to support their case, de Montbrial said today at a Paris press conference.
The complaint filed in Pontoise, near the French capital, extends Diallo’s case to the country the same day a New York judge dismissed the charges against Strauss-Kahn. The 62-year- old stepped down as International Monetary Fund chief in May to fight the allegations he attacked the maid after she came to clean his room at a midtown New York hotel.
Diallo has also filed a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn in New York state court.
De Montbrial and Douglas Wigdor, a New York attorney for Diallo, also met with David Koubbi, a Paris lawyer representing Tristane Banon, a Frenchwoman who claims Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in 2003. The lawyers are coordinating their efforts to gather evidence to support Diallo’s civil case and Banon’s French criminal complaint, Wigdor and de Montbrial said today, by finding other women to buttress their clients’ stories.
“We have been contacted by many women” about their experiences with Strauss-Kahn. Their stories “show that this is his modus operandi,” Wigdor said. The lawyers declined to say how many have contacted them, saying just that they are from around the world and work in industries ranging from hospitality to journalism.
Paris police are conducting a preliminary inquiry into Banon’s complaint, questioning people she said had heard from her or her mother about the incident to verify details in her complaint. They have questioned members of Strauss-Kahn’s Socialist Party including presidential contender Francois Hollande, journalists who knew Banon and relatives including Strauss-Kahn’s second wife and daughter. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor declined to detail the status of the inquiry, saying that it is “on-going.”
Koubbi didn’t return calls for comment. The dismissal in New York doesn’t affect Banon’s case, Koubbi said today on BFM television. Strauss-Kahn denies Banon’s claims and has filed a slander suit against her.
Sarcelles mayor Francois Pupponi, a member of Strauss- Kahn’s Socialist Party, said in an interview today on Europe 1 radio that he learned of the complaint last night and didn’t know who it targeted or the witness concerned.
“Each time DSK has good news in court in the United States, a supposed new affair comes out in France,” Pupponi said to Europe 1.
The mayor’s office in Sarcelles wasn’t immediately available to take calls about the lawsuit.
To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Smith in Paris at hsmith26@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net.
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