Ex-IMF Chief Sex Case 'Should Be Dropped'

New York prosecutors are recommending that all charges against the former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn should be dropped.

In court documents, the Manhattan district attorney's office said Nafissatou Diallo - the hotel maid who accused Mr Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her - had "not been truthful on matters great and small".

The document states that prosecutors are "no longer convinced of the defendant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt" and that the "cumulative effect" of the maid's lies would have been "devastating" if the case had gone to trial.

In early July prosecutors said they had serious doubts about 32-year-old Diallo's credibility, despite having initially argued that she was a strong, convincing witness.

They said that she had lied about a previous sexual assault and about her asylum application, and that she had been inconsistent about some of the details of Mr Strauss-Kahn's alleged assault.

They also said they had a tape recording of a phone conversation between Ms Diallo and an inmate in an Arizona jail, in which she discusses the possible financial benefits of pursuing Mr Strauss-Kahn.

Her lawyers said the conversation had been incorrectly translated.

In a statement Strauss-Kahn's lawyers Ben Brafman and William Taylor said: "We have maintained from the beginning of this case that our client is innocent.

"We also maintained that there were many reasons to believe that Mr Strauss-Kahn's accuser was not credible.

"Mr Strauss-Kahn and his family are grateful that the district attorney took our concerns seriously and concluded on its own that this case cannot proceed further."

Ms Diallo's lawyer Kenneth Thompson said: "The Manhattan attorney Cyrus Vance has denied the right to a woman to get justice in a rape case."

If Judge Michael Obus accepts the prosecutor's recommendation to drop the charges, then Mr Strauss-Kahn, who is currently released without bail pending a trial, will be free to go.

Ms Diallo's lawyer has filed a civil suit on behalf of his client against Mr Strauss-Kahn.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and accuses him of a "violent sadistic attack" at the Sofitel hotel near Times Square on May 14th.

The former IMF chief also faces a criminal complaint in France by Tristane Banon, a novelist who says he attacked her during an interview in 2003.

Mr Strauss-Kahn is suing Ms Banon for defamation.