Paris: Accusations of group rape by former International Monetary Fund (IMF) president Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his three friends are set to be shelved by French prosecutors after a crucial witness retracted her allegations.
According to an unsourced report by newspaper Le Figaro, the inquiry was opened in May as part of an investigation into Strauss-Kahn’s ties to a suspected prostitution ring in the northern city of Lille.
It focused on allegations by a prostitute, denied by Strauss-Kahn, that he and his friends forced her to have sex in a group in Washington in December 2010.
According to news 24, the report posted on Le Figaro’s website, the woman has since retracted her statement in a letter sent to judicial police, saying that in fact the sex was consensual and that the group was playing ‘sexual games’.
"The investigators, who believe they have gone as far as they can with their inquiries, have sent the file back to the prosecutors and a shelving of the inquiry will follow," the News agencies said.
According to the report, Strauss-Kahn, once tipped to win power in France``s 2012 presidential race, quit the International Monetary Fund after he was arrested in New York in May 2011, accused of attempting to rape hotel maid.
He has always insisted the encounter was consensual, and the charges were later dropped amid doubts over his accuser``s credibility, but his career and marriage failed to recover.
ANI
