Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has told police he made a pass at a young author in 2003, but he denied allegations that he tried to rape Tristane Banon.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has returned home to a mixed welcome in France – for the first time since attempted rape accusations by a New York hotel maid unleashed an international scandal that dashed his chances of the French presidency.

Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrived in his native France today, for the first time since the collapse of a sensational sexual assault case that cost him his job and possibly his presidential ambitions.

French investigators questioned a leading presidential hopeful about a writer's claim that former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her.

FRENCH investigators have questioned one of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s daughters, one of his ex-wives and may question a Socialist presidential hopeful about claims the former International Monetary Fund chief tried to rape a writer.

FRENCH detectives interviewed a young French writer yesterday over her claim that former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in 2003, a judicial official said.

THE Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a preliminary inquiry into a complaint filed by French writer Tristane Banon alleging an attempted rape by former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

FORMER IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was hit with a fresh complaint of attempted rape in France yesterday, a new hurdle to any political comeback, even though US sex assault charges against him may be lifted this month.

The hotel maid at the centre of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sex assault case is suing the New York Post after it called her a prostitute.

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn faced a potential new sexual assault investigation after a young French writer said she would formally accuse him of trying to rape her during a 2002 interview.

A FRENCH novelist will file a criminal complaint today accusing Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape, her lawyer said, throwing fresh uncertainty into a fierce national debate about whether the former International Monetary Fund chief can return to his country’s presidential race.

A French novelist who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape is pressing ahead with legal action against him.

A FRENCH writer who has alleged Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her nine years ago has not been contacted by US prosecutors who have indicted the former IMF chief on sex charges in New York, her lawyer said yesterday.

French voters have shrugged at politicians’ infidelities for decades but now some wonder if their tolerance has allowed criminal acts by one of the country’s best-known public figures to go unpunished.

ALREADY in custody for the alleged attempted rape of a hotel maid in New York, Dominique Strauss- Kahn is now facing a second allegation of sexual assault this time by a fellow French native.

A woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn nine years ago in France intends to lodge a legal complaint against the International Monetary Fund chief.