PROSECUTORS IN the case of the people of the state of New York against Dominique Strauss-Kahn have filed a 10-page “voluntary disclosure form” detailing the arrest and detention on May 14th of the former head of the International Monetary Fund.
The redacted version of the form released to the press on Thursday evening shows that when he was taken off an Air France flight to Paris, Mr Strauss-Kahn initially claimed he had diplomatic immunity – an assertion he dropped later that evening.
He was preoccupied with missing a meeting the next day, complained his handcuffs were too tight and asked for eggs for breakfast after his first night in jail.
Mr Strauss-Kahn has been charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid in his suite in the Sofitel Manhattan at noon on May 14th.
The form says Mr Strauss-Kahn telephoned the hotel at 3.29pm to say he had left his phone in his room. In the presence of a police detective, the hotel employee asked to check the room, then called Mr Strauss-Kahn back at 3.42pm to ask where he could return the phone to. Mr Strauss-Kahn gave him the Air France gate and flight number.
At 4.40pm, Mr Strauss-Kahn addressed detectives Terry Ng and Diwan Maharaj in the Air France jetway, apparently believing they were hotel employees.
“Do you have my cell phone?” he asked them. Det Maharaj asked to see Mr Strauss-Kahn’s passport and said: “We would like you to come with us.”
“What for?” Mr Strauss-Kahn asked. “Now is not the time or the place to discuss. Do you have any baggage on board?” the detective asked.
Five minutes later, Mr Strauss-Kahn asked Sgt Raymond DiLena: “What is this about?” a question he would repeat twice over the next 25 minutes. Sgt DiLena said: “The NYPD [New York Police Department] needs to speak to you about an incident in the city at a hotel.”
Mr Strauss-Kahn was told to empty his pockets on the table of the Port Authority Police Precinct, and to sit down. “Is that necessary?” he asked, as he was handcuffed. He preferred to be handcuffed “in the front”, but the form does not say whether his wish was granted. A few minutes later, he complained the handcuffs were tight.
“I have diplomatic immunity,” Mr Strauss-Kahn stated. “It’s not in this passport, I have a second passport. Can I speak with someone from the French consulate?”
Later that evening, at the Manhattan special victims squad in Harlem, Mr Strauss-Kahn asked Det Miguel Rivera whether he needed a lawyer.
“It is your right to have one in this country if you want. I don’t know if you have some kind of diplomatic status,” Det Rivera said.
“No, no, no. I’m not trying to use that, I just want to know if I need a lawyer,” Mr Strauss-Kahn replied.
Nearly two hours later, at 10.55pm, when asked by another detective whether he wanted to discuss the incident at the hotel, Mr Strauss-Kahn said he had been ready to talk, but his attorney told him not to.