The sex scandal that was waiting to happen

A COUPLE of years ago Dominique Strauss-Kahn was booked for a morning interview on French radio’s main current affairs programme. It was the International Monetary Fund chief’s first visit home since weathering a major sex scandal in Washington.

To herald his arrival, a comedian called Stéphane Guillon dedicated a four-minute slot to him. Claiming that “extraordinary measures” had been taken at the radio station that morning “in order not to awaken the Beast”, he warned: “To guarantee the safety of personnel, female staff are asked to wear long, unrevealing and totally unsexy clothes.” The producer would be wearing a burka, he continued, while adjacent stations were prepared to offer sanctuary to fleeing women. In case of emergency a siren would go off warning all women to evacuate the building but rigorous attempts would be made to avoid this, including putting bromide in the guest’s coffee.

Strauss-Kahn was furious and Guillon was nearly sacked on the spot. But the fact that a high-minded programme would even consider broadcasting such a sketch about a man who, until this week, was being tipped as France’s next president speaks volumes about his reputation. “He is well-known as a libertine,” said his official biographer yesterday in what was meant to be a loyal attempt to fend off the far graver allegations now made against him. Libertine is certainly a politer word than attempted rapist, which is what a New York chambermaid is calling him. It is also politer than “rutting chimpanzee”, the expression used by a young novelist called Tristane Banon who says Strauss-Kahn attacked her during an interview nearly a decade ago.

He has also been described as a “chaud lapin”, which translates literally as a “hot rabbit” but actually means “sex maniac”, and as a “queutard” – a term for the kind of man who carries his brains in his underwear. Known in France as a wealthy, caviar socialist with great charisma and an array of luxury homes, the 62-yearold Strauss-Kahn was an academic economist before pursuing a political career. He rose to become finance minister in 1997, stepping down two years later amid corruption allegations. After clearing his name he sought the Socialist Party’s presidential nomination in 2007, losing out to female challenger Ségolène Royal.

The eventual winner of that election was Right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy, who quickly realised that Strauss- Kahn was his most formidable potential rival next time round. The new President pushed hard for Strauss- Kahn to become chief executive of the IMF as a means of getting him out of the way. Since taking up those reins, he has earned widespread respect for his handling of the global economic crisis – making him even more of a threat to Sarkozy. In recent months, he has made little secret of his desire to return to Paris in time to challenge for the presidency in 2012 – and the polls suggested he could easily win.

There was only one cloud on his horizon – and it was trouser-shaped. As one French journalist wrote following his appointment to the IMF: “Strauss-Kahn’s only real problem is his relationship with women. He is too pushy and often comes close to harassment. The media know about this fault but no one talks about.” It was certainly true that Strauss-Kahn’s sexual activities were an open secret back home. “Everyone in Paris has known for years he had something of a problem,” said a former adviser to Sarkozy yesterday.

“Not many female journalists are prepared to interview him alone these days.” Previously, Tristane Banon, the goddaughter of Strauss-Kahn’s second wife, spoke about an interview with a politician whose name was bleeped out. She said she ended up having to fight him off: “It finished badly…very violently…I kicked him. When we were fighting, I mentioned the word ‘rape’ to make him afraid but it didn’t have any effect. I managed to get out.” After only a year at the IMF, scandal erupted. He had a fling with a Hungarian IMF economist Piroska Nagy and was then accused of favouritism in giving her a job followed by an excessive pay-off.

He was cleared of impropriety. But he was forced to make a public apology to his third wife Anne Sinclair, a French-American TV interviewer in France who is wealthy in her own right as the granddaughter of Pablo Picasso’s art dealer.

In true Gallic style she forgave him, dismissing the encounter as a “onenight stand” and saying she and her husband were as much in love as ever. For her part, Nagy said Strauss- Kahn had “without question” used his position to seduce her.

Gradually, a growing body of opinion back home said the man’s reputation as an obsessive seducer might destroy his presidential chances. A year ago, an anonymous author writing under the pseudonym Cassandre published a book called Secrets Of A Presidential Contenderin which she said Strauss-Kahn was a pleasure-seeker who was “always on the hunt” and had trouble controlling himself.

Meanwhile, an aide to Sarkozy was quoted as saying Strauss- Kahn’s campaign would not last a week. “We have photographs and we will circulate them,” he allegedly vowed. The IMF boss himself was said to have angrily confronted Sarkozy in a lavatory, saying that if he didn’t call off his “boys” he would take him to court. The scandal may now have torpedoed his prospects. According to the 32-year-old chambermaid who walked into his suite at the Sofi tel hotel in Manhattan on Saturday lunchtime, he emerged naked from the bathroom, pulled her into a bedroom and forced her into sexual intimacies. He then tried to lock her in the room. She is said to have broken free and told a staff member, who called the police.

By the time they arrived, Strauss-Kahn had checked out, leaving personal items behind. He was arrested in the firstclass cabin of a Paris-bound flight, 10 minutes before take-off. Through his lawyer, he has denied all the charges and his wife has insisted his innocence will be established. François Hollande, another likely Socialist candidate for the presidency, says the portrait painted by the chambermaid “does not resemble the man I know”. Conspiracy theorists scent a political stitch-up. “We cannot rule out the thought of a trap,” said one of Sarkozy’s own ministers, noting that the arrest came hard on the heels of colourful stories about Strauss-Kahn’s expensive tastes in cars and suits.

“If that’s what it turns out to have been, let me tell you that it would not be to the credit of those who set it.” Strauss-Kahn’s supporters also noted that news of the arrest broke on the blogging network Twitter before it had even happened. The political science student responsible countered by saying he was told the news by a friend who happened to work at the hotel in question. Whatever really happened in New York, the French code of silence around Strauss-Kahn’s behaviour has now been shattered.

Within hours, he had been identified as the politician Tristane Banon was referring to. On Sunday night, her mother said she had talked her daughter out of taking legal action but she now regretted that. “Today I am sorry to have discouraged my daughter from complaining. I bear a heavy responsibility,” she said. She had dissuaded her, she said, because she believed Strauss- Kahn’s behaviour to have been out of character. She clearly no longer believes that – and there is a danger few of his countrymen will either.