Paris: A Frenchwoman claiming to be an
ex-lover of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said she
would testify in the scandal over attempted rape charges
against him if asked, in comments published on Sunday.
She was photographed and identified as Marie-Victorine M, a 38-year-old consultant, by French newspaper Le Journal du
Dimanche, which said she started an affair with Strauss-Kahn
in 1997 after her father introduced them.
She also described her affair with Strauss-Kahn in an
interview published this weekend in Swiss magazine L`Illustre,
in which she said her testimony would most likely benefit
Strauss-Kahn`s defence.
"I am not here to kick a man who is down," she added
in that interview. She replied "yes" when asked if she would
testify, but told L`Illustre: "I think that would no doubt
benefit his defence more than his accusers."
She said in both interviews that she had been quizzed
by the lawyer of Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel maid who accuses
the powerful French politician of sexually assaulting and
trying to rape her in a Manhattan hotel room.
Diallo spoke out this week about the case after
prosecutors shed doubt on her credibility and a judge released
Strauss-Kahn from house arrest.
Diallo`s lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, warned of a civil
suit even if Strauss-Kahn escapes criminal trial.
Another Frenchwoman, the writer Tristane Banon, 32,
has brought legal action against Strauss-Kahn alleging that he
tried to rape her in Paris in 2003.
Banon is the god-daughter of Strauss-Kahn`s ex-wife
and the daughter of a fellow member of his opposition
Socialist party who herself has admitted having a consensual
sexual encounter with him.
Banon too has talked to Diallo`s legal team.
PTI
