Moral failure

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief and one-time French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn has admitted that his disputed encounter with a New York City hotel maid was a "moral failing" but insisted he did not sexually assault her.

In an interview with the French news network TF1, Strauss-Kahn said he deeply regretted his actions and that he had failed his wife, his children and the French people.

"I am not proud of it," said Strauss-Kahn. "I regret it infinitely. I have regretted it every day for the past four months and I think I'm not done regretting it."

Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the IMF after being arrested on charges of having tried to rape Nafissatou Diallo, a Guinean maid who cleaned his hotel room. New York prosecutors subsequently dropped the case due to inconsistencies in Diallo's recollection of the encounter and an apparent history of deceit.

Diallo's French lawyer, Thibault de Montbrial, attacked the Strauss-Kahn interview as "a public relations exercise without any spontaneity, neither in the questions nor the replies - scripted down to each gesture."

'Humiliated'

In the interview, Strauss-Kahn lashed out at the US justice system for allowing him to be shown handcuffed before the media, a practice banned under French law.

"When you are snatched up by the jaws of that machine, you have the impression that it can crush you," he said. "I felt that I was trampled on, humiliated, even before I had the chance to say a word."

The former IMF chief also proclaimed his innocence in a second sexual assault case levelled against him by French journalist and author Tristane Banon, insisting that "no act of aggression, no violence" had taken place between the two of them.

"The version that was presented is an imaginary version, a slanderous version," said Strauss-Kahn.

The former French presidential hopeful for the Socialist Party said he would take time to "reflect" on his future in politics, but will not stand as a candidate in France's upcoming elections.

Author: Spencer Kimball (AP, AFP)
Editor: Martin Kuebler