New York: Prosecutors will ask a judge to dismiss all charges against former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn at a court hearing Tuesday, the New York Post reported Sunday, citing unnamed sources.
The Manhattan district attorney's office will file a motion recommending that the sexual assault case be dropped and laying out the chronology of events that led to that point, according to the Post.
The case has teetered ever since late June, when prosecutors disclosed that Nafissatou Diallo, the maid who accused Strauss-Kahn of attacking her in his hotel suite in May, had lied on her asylum application and about other aspects of her past.
That revelation threatened her credibility as a witness and led prosecutors to agree to release Strauss-Kahn from house arrest, though he remains barred from leaving the country.
The Post reported that the prosecutors' motion would detail concerns about Diallo's credibility and make it clear they do not believe they can prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Speculation that the charges would be dropped intensified Saturday, when Diallo's lawyers said she had been summoned for a meeting with prosecutors on Monday and suggested that it could be a sign that prosecutors were preparing to dismiss.
Strauss-Kahn, who has denied the allegations, was once seen as a leading contender for the French presidency before his arrest.
Even if the charges are dismissed, he faces a civil suit filed by Diallo two weeks ago and a complaint filed in France by writer Tristane Banon, who has alleged that he tried to rape her in 2002.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, August 21, 2011, 20:48