Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been remanded to custody after a New York city judge denied him bail over charges that he attempted to rape a 32-year-old hotel maid.
Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn, who appeared in the court on Monday, said he would plead not guilty to the accusations.
The IMF chief, a man accustomed to luxury hotel suites and first-class plane travel, will make his home for now at New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail.
Strauss-Kahn will be transferred from a detention center attached to the Manhattan Criminal Court to Rikers Island on Monday, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Correction said.
Strauss-Kahn is due to appear in court again on May 20.
Al Jazeera's Cath Turner, reporting from New York, said the judge's denial of bail was made on the basis of whether Strauss-Kahn was a perceived flight risk.
"This is a big blow for the defense's case of course," our correspondent said.
"But this is very much a he-said, she-said at the moment. The defense lawyer said they have someone who was having lunch with Strauss-Kahn at the time he was allegedly assaulting the maid," she added.
Ryan Sesa, a police deputy spokesman, said charges against Strauss-Kahn included a "criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape".
The 62-year-old, who was tipped to run as a Socialist candidate in French presidential elections next year, has already undergone a scientific and forensic examination at the request of US authorities.
He is accused of trapping a maid at a luxury hotel in Manhattan and sexually assaulting her. The woman, who has not been identified, picked Strauss-Kahn out of a line-up on Sunday, as police said they had won a warrant to seek DNA evidence on his clothes.
Another assault accusation
A French writer on Monday also said she would make a complaint against the IMF chief, claiming he assaulted her in 2002.
Tristane Banon, a novelist and journalist, previously made the allegation against the leading politician in 2007 - on television and in an interview with a news website - but she had not made a formal complaint to authorities.
Her mother, also a Socialist candidate, had previously urged Banon not to press charges.
"We're planning to make a complaint. I am working with her," Banon's lawyer David Koubbi said.
Election chaos
The allegations against Strauss-Kahn have thrown the 2012 French election into disarray, as the IMF chief was seen as a strong contender for the position.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the current president, is likely to have his chances of re-election now improved, even if Strauss-Kahn clears his name.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who was predicted to come second behind Strauss-Kahn in a first round vote, also stands to benefit given her long-running complaint about French politics as an elitist boys' club.
"It is the first time a judicial affair has such an impact on the presidential election," Frederic Daby of pollster IFOP told Reuters news agency. "It's unprecedented in France's political history."
The Socialists, who have no other candidate to match Strauss-Kahn, have vowed to press on with their primary selection process.
IMF fallout
Caroline Atkinson, director of the external relations department of the IMF, issued a statement on Monday saying the IMF-executive board will "continue to monitor developments".
"The Executive Board convened this afternoon in informal session to receive a verbal report from senior Fund officials, including Mr. John Lipsky, Acting Managing Director, and Mr. Sean Hagan, the Fund’s General Counsel, on developments related to Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
"The Board was briefed regarding criminal charges that have been brought against the Managing Director during a private visit to New York City.
"The IMF and its Executive Board will continue to monitor developments."
London's Financial Times said the scandal threatened to undermine Europe's influence within the body at a time when the euro is in crisis.
"It may well force the organisation's members to confront wider issues of European influence over the fund, even as it prepares to extend more rescue loans to Western Europe," the paper said.
But the European Commission has said the case should have no impact on bailout plans for struggling eurozone nations.
Paul Brennan, Al Jazeera's reporter in Paris, the French capital, said the incident had sent shockwaves across France and the international community.
"We're hearing rumours that Mr Strauss-Kahn is considering stepping down from the IMF, notwithstanding any court appearance or whether or not the charges stick," our correspondent said.
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| Source: Al Jazeera and agencies |
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