Dominique Strauss-Kahn Conspiracy Theories Mount

     

Dominique Strauss-Kahn gave an unpublished interview only two weeks before his arrest in which he suggested he could imagine a scenario in which he might be set up for rape, it emerged on Monday.

Mr Strauss-Kahn remained in custody on Monday night facing charges of sexual assault on a New York hotel maid after he was dramatically arrested on a plane bound for Paris on Saturday.

While he has denied the charges, which include committing a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment, conspiracy theories abounded in France yesterday following the publication of a curiously premonitory interview in Libération newspaper.

In the then off-the-record discussion on April 28, the International Monetary Fund chief said he could imagine a scenario where he was framed for a rape he did not commit.

The 62-year-old was clearly worried about receiving "low blows" from allies of President Nicolas Sarkozy, whom a series of polls suggested prior to the scandal he would beat in next years’ elections should he run.

He told reporters he only kept his encrypted IMF one for fear of being eavesdropped by the president’s allies.

Mr Strauss-Kahn then said there were three obstacles to his election: "Money (he is vastly wealthy), women and my Judaism." Starting with the female question, the former Socialist finance minister said: "Yes, I love women, et alors?"

A recent book on the Socialist party quotes the former spokesman of Mr Sarkozy’s UMP party as boasting about incriminating photographs of Mr Strauss-Kahn. But Mr Strauss-Kahn said: "For years people have talked about photos of giant orgies (involving me), but I have never seen anything come out…So why don’t they show them?"

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