THE FRONTRUNNER for the French Socialist Party’s presidential nomination, François Hollande, will be questioned by police investigating claims of attempted rape brought by a French writer against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Tristane Banon filed a legal complaint at the start of July, alleging that Mr Strauss-Kahn attempted to rape her in 2003 when she went to interview him in a Paris apartment.
Investigators have opened a preliminary inquiry to assess the merits of the complaint, cross-checking dates and addresses and summoning for questioning people that Ms Banon refers to in her allegation.
The woman’s lawyer said she told Mr Hollande about the alleged incident in 2003, when he was leader of the party, and French press reports suggest he is due to be questioned by police in September.
Mr Hollande himself has said Ms Banon’s mother – the socialist councillor Anne Mansouret – contacted him at the time of the alleged incident, and he suggested the police should be contacted if there was a problem.
“I couldn’t go and lodge a complaint on behalf of the girl,” he told reporters on Monday.
“I’ve nothing to hide and nothing to feel uneasy about but I will not allow this case to be exploited politically.” In a statement yesterday, he said he looked forward to being interviewed as soon as possible.
Police have already spoken to a number of people who were close to Ms Banon, including Mr Strauss-Kahn’s daughter from his second marriage, Camille Strauss-Kahn. Her mother and Mr Strauss-Kahn’s ex-wife, Brigitte Guillemette, was questioned last week.
Mr Hollande’s allies point out that no claims have been made against him and say he is being unfairly linked to the Banon allegations for political reasons. Opinion polls put him in the lead over Martine Aubry in the party contest to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential election.
André Vallini, who is close to Mr Hollande, sharply criticised French right-wing daily Le Figarofor publishing a photograph of Mr Hollande alongside one of Ms Banon on yesterday's front page, saying the montage was "not worthy of a major paper".
Mr Strauss-Kahn strongly denies Ms Banon’s claims, which he says are “imaginary”, and has initiated libel action in France.
The French former finance minister remains on bail in the United States, where he is expected to learn on August 1st whether allegations that he attempted to rape a hotel chambermaid will be pursued or dropped.
He was the frontrunner to win the socialist nomination until his arrest in New York, but polls predict the primary, due to take place in October, will be a two-way battle between two former party leaders, Mr Hollande and Ms Aubry.
Mr Hollande would win 42 per cent of the first-round vote, to Ms Aubry's 34 per cent, if the primary were held now, an OpinionWay poll for Le Figarofound.
He would also fare better in the presidential election itself, with a separate Ipsos survey placing Mr Hollande and Mr Sarkozy neck and neck but predicting that the current president would beat Ms Aubry.