Thaindian News

London, Sep 4 (IANS) Former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn returned to Paris Sunday following the collapse of an attempted rape case levelled against him in New York.

He was accompanied by his wife Anne Sinclair as the couple touched down at Charles de Gaulle airport at 7.05 a.m, Daily Mail reported.

A police escort was waiting to rush them through customs and into a waiting Peugot limousine. French detectives indicated that they also intended to speak to Strauss-Kahn about sex-related accusations being levelled against him in Paris.

On Saturday night, the couple left the Manhattan town home Strauss-Kahn had rented for his house arrest.

The 62-year-old lost his job as IMF chief after Nafissatou Diallo, a chamber maid at the Manhattan Sofitel, said she was attacked.

Strauss-Kahn admitted having a sexual encounter with her. But his lawyers said it was consensual.

He spent almost a week in jail after being removed by police from a plane about to take off for Paris, six weeks under house arrest and nearly two more months barred from leaving the country.

Last week, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the case, saying they no longer trusted the maid, Guinean immigrant Nafissatou Diallo.

Diallo,33, is continuing to press her claims in a civil lawsuit.

She says Strauss-Kahn chased her down in his suite and attacked her after she arrived to clean it. Prosecutors said DNA evidence showed they had a sexual encounter.

After initially portraying Diallo as a compelling witness, prosecutors developed doubts about her credibility.

Strauss-Kahn has been free to travel internationally since his passport was returned late last week.

Until his arrest, Strauss-Kahn was considered the front runner of Socialist Party’s to take on conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy next year.

But few observers in France expect a political return from him anytime soon.