New twist for Dominique Strauss-Kahn

A French writer who claims Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to sexually assault her eight years ago plans to lay an attempted rape charge against him, even as separate sexual assault charges against Strauss-Kahn in New York seemed to be collapsing.

The turnabout in the New York case - prosecutors have admitted that his accuser, a hotel maid, lied under oath and changed her story - has prompted calls for the former French socialist finance minister to make a political comeback.

Strauss-Kahn, who stepped down as head of the International Monetary Fund after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault and attempted rape on May 14, had been seen as a possible front-runner in the next French presidential election.

In France, lawyer David Koubbi said yesterday that the complaint by writer Tristane Banon, 32, would relate to an incident that took place when she went to interview Strauss-Kahn, in an apartment in Paris in 2003. She was 22 at the time.

"Tristane Banon will file a complaint [today] for attempted rape in Paris," Koubbi said.

"These acts are extremely serious," he added. "These events were combined with a violence that was absolutely striking for these kinds of situations."

The move by Banon, a journalist and author of a book and two novels, will follow Strauss-Kahn's release from house arrest in New York on Friday after prosecutors said they now doubted the credibility of his Guinean-born accuser.

Koubbi would not say whether the timing was affected by developments in New York. Until his May arrest, Strauss-Kahn was seen as the left's best chance of winning the 2012 election.

Under French law, attempted rape charges can be brought up to 10 years after an alleged attack, whereas sexual assault charges expire after three years.

Scrutiny of the accuser in the New York sexual assault case against Strauss-Kahn intensified at the weekend after more revelations about her conduct following the purported attack.

A judge released Strauss-Kahn from house arrest and lifted strict bail conditions on Friday after prosecutors discovered a pattern of lying in her background, although serious charges including sexual assault and attempted rape remain in place against him.

Reports said the 32-year-old hotel maid spoke of the possibility of financial gain from the incident.

In a phone conversation with her boyfriend, who was held in an Arizona jail on suspicion of possessing 180kg of marijuana, she said there was money to be made from Strauss-Kahn, a law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation said.

The call was recorded, and the woman told her boyfriend she was fine and not to worry about her, the source said.

The New York Times quoted a well-placed law-enforcement official as saying: "She says words to the effect of, 'Don't worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I'm doing'."

Yesterday, the New York Post went a step further, quoting unnamed sources who alleged that the woman had laid charges against Strauss-Kahn because he had refused to pay her for sex.

On Friday, prosecutors said the accuser lied about being gang-raped in Guinea as part of an application for US asylum and changed details of her story about what she did after the incident in Straus-Kahn's luxury hotel suite.