Case Against Former IMF Head Near Collapse

[wheelspinner]

So let me get this straight. Mr DA. We publicly humiliate the guy, destroy his reputation and his political career, cost him his job, and then we discover that the case against him is a pack of lies?

I was under the impression that cases were investigated properly and the likelihood of winning assessed BEFORE doing all that. Even more so when the accused is such a high profile person and the consequences of a false accusation so great.

Maybe somebody couldn't stand the thought of a Socialist running the IMF and decided to do something about it.


Revival for former IMF chief
Angelique Chrisafis, Paris
July 3, 2011

NEWS that the New York prosecution case for alleged sexual assault against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is close to collapse has stunned France and revived hopes that he may return to politics.

Allies of Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who had been the firm favourite to win next year's presidential race against incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, speculated that his political career would be saved and he could play a crucial role in the election campaign.

Strauss-Kahn was freed from house arrest on Friday after prosecutors said the maid accusing him of sexual assault lied to a grand jury, though he still faces charges.

A smiling Strauss-Kahn, 62, appeared as though a large weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he left the Manhattan court, his arm affectionately draped on wife Anne Sinclair's shoulder.

He soon took advantage of his newfound freedom, dining with his wife and another couple at an expensive restaurant.

It was a complete turnaround for a man who spent days locked up in New York's tough Rikers Island jail in May.

Strauss-Kahn, whose $US1 million ($A930,000) bail and $US5 million bond will now be returned, is free to travel anywhere in the US, though authorities will keep his passport, pending possible trial.

Even before Friday's court hearing in New York, French Socialists expressed joy at reports that New York prosecutors had serious questions about the credibility of his accuser.

The Socialist MP Jean-Marie Le Guen, a firm ally of Strauss-Kahn, expressed his ''immense joy'' at developments, saying it was ''the end of the nightmare'' for the former IMF head who would now ''be present in the presidential campaign''.

Mr Le Guen said it was too soon to speculate whether Strauss-Kahn could actually run for president himself.

But he spoke of his ''rehabilitation'', saying anyone who had written off DSK should now count on someone who would soon be free and able to look the French public ''in the eye''.

The Socialist Party last week launched its primary race for a candidate on the basis that Strauss-Kahn's political career was over. Candidates must declare in the next two weeks and face a vote in October.

The Socialist Michele Sabban said: ''If Dominique Strauss-Kahn is cleared, I ask the Socialist Party to suspend the primary process.''

Bernard Henri-Levy, the philosopher who had also fiercely defended Strauss-Kahn, saying he was not a ''Neanderthal'', expressed his ''great joy for the man, his family, and for principle''.

GUARDIAN, AFP



Read more: www.theage.com.au/world/revival-for-former-imf-chief-20110702-1gwac.html#ixzz1QzVGL000

[MacBeth]

Seems to me that he was pounced on as the villian because of his background of other similar reports from other hotel employees around the world.
Now she is the villian because of her background and past bad deeds.

Either version could be true - because he has behaved badly in the past does not necessarily mean he behaved badly this time; because she has behaved badly in the past does not necessarily mean she was not assaulted.

No idea at this point. But one thing is clear, if he did do this there is no chance of convicting him.

[wheelspinner]

You're quite correct to say that either version could be true; weighing those two up is why we have a trial, of course.

However it is incumbent on the investigators to get to the point where a conviction is likely before they arrest somebody in a blaze of publicity. They should have satisfied themselves that the accuser's story was pretty convincing before tossing the guy into Rikers Island. It seems to me that their eagerness to claim a high-profile scalp outweighed the proper sense of prudence and caution.