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.

FRENCH auto maker Renault fended off a lawsuit from families of the same name who complained it would bring ridicule on their relatives called Zoe by giving that forename to its new electric car.