Kahn ‘victim’ not contacted

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.

David Koubbi said “there has been no attempt to get in touch.” He said his client, Tristane Banon, does not intend to assist the American prosecution, and he doesn’t believe she can be forced to cooperate.

Koubbi told The Associated Press: “My client won’t be forced to do anything by American justice.”

Strauss-Kahn is on bail and under house arrest in New York, awaiting trial for allegedly attempting to rape a hotel housekeeper. He denies all charges but has resigned as IMF chief.

Banon has alleged that Strauss-Kahn wrenched open her bra and tried to unbutton her jeans in a rape attempt in 2002.

Her lawyer has said she was dissuaded from pressing charges at the time by her mother, an official in Strauss-Kahn’s Socialist party.

The arrest of Strauss-Kahn, a suave Socialist politician who until last week was a leading contender for France’s 2012 presidential election, has shocked and riveted France.