Thaindian News

New York, May 16 (IANS) International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was Monday denied bail as he appeared in court here to answer charges of trying to sexually assault a maid in his New York hotel suite.

Criminal court judge Melissa Jackson agreed with prosecutors’ assertions that he is a flight risk, saying: “The fact that he was about to board a flight, that raises some concerns.”

Strauss-Kahn, 62, is next set to appear in court May 20.

He was widely expected to become a French presidential candidate before the case sent shock waves in French politics and threw the international financial institution into turmoil.

Prosecutors argued against bail, saying they believe Strauss-Kahn has engaged in “similar acts” at least once and that there would be nothing to prevent him from returning to France and living “open and notoriously” like film director Roman Polanski.

Prosecutors presented a long list of charges against him, including two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, one count of first-degree attempted rape, one count of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of second-degree unlawful imprisonment, one count of forcible touching and one count of third-degree sexual abuse.

Defence attorneys noted Strauss-Kahn’s lack of a criminal record and said he would be prepared to stay with his daughter in New York if released on bail. They suggested a bail amount of $1 million.

But the judge told Strauss-Kahn’s defence attorney Benjamin Brafman: “The same rules apply to your defendant as all defendants, and I am a fair judge.”

Police allege Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted a 32-year-old woman Saturday at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan, then quickly headed off to New York’s J.F.K. airport to board a Paris-bound flight.