IMF boss indicted in rape attempt

NEW YORK: IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged Sunday with the sexual assault and attempted rape of a New York chambermaid, a scandal which could derail his ambitions to run for the French presidency.

The charges included "criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment, attempted rape" and "assaulting a 32-year-old girl in a hotel room," a police spokesman told reporters.

The 62-year-old IMF chief, who was expected to be formally arraigned before a New York judge later Sunday, will "plead not guilty," his lawyer William Taylor told AFP.

The bombshell news comes at a crucial time for the International Monetary Fund, one of the pillars of the world's financial system, as it tries to help shore up the debt-ridden euro zone.

An IMF spokesman said the Washington-based Fund would meet in a special session later Sunday "to be briefed on developments related to the managing director."

The IMF chief was arrested, charged by New York police and held overnight in the Harlem neighborhood at a special unit for sexual harassment, after a maid at the top class Sofitel hotel alleged he had assaulted her when he got out of his shower naked.

The New York Times reported that according to one law enforcement official "investigation in the hotel room uncovered forensic evidence that would contain DNA."

But Strauss-Kahn's wife, high-profile French television journalist Anne Sinclair, dismissed the allegations against her husband.

"I do not believe for one second the accusations brought against my husband. I have no doubt his innocence will be established," she said in a statement to AFP.