New York, May 24: Investigators found traces of DNA from former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on the clothes of a hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault, US media reported.
The DNA was found on the shirt of the 32-year-old worker at the Sofitel in New York who has accused Strauss-Kahn of attempting to rape her, according to NBC and ABC television reports on Monday.
DNA testing on other evidence from the hotel suite used by the French politician is continuing.
Strauss-Kahn has denied charges made against him. New York police and the district attorney’s office refused to comment on the reports which came as Strauss-Kahn raced against time on Monday to find a new home. He has also told former staff how he is confronting a “personal nightmare.”
Under house arrest pending trial, he has been rejected by one luxury residence because of his newfound notoriety and must soon leave his temporary abode.
Charges that he attempted to rape and sexually assault the chambermaid on May 14 forced him to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund last week and torpedoed his chances of standing in the French presidential election next year.
But Strauss-Kahn again denied the accusations in an email message sent to IMF staff late Sunday in which he expressed “profound sadness” at the way he left his USD 450,000-a-year tax-free post.
“I deny in the strongest possible terms the allegations which I now face; I am confident that the truth will come out and I will be exonerated,” he wrote.
–Agencies