Strauss-Kahn may plead not guilty, but a change at IMF is overdue, say reformers

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is widely seen as the likely frontrunner to win France's 2012 presidential election, will appear in a New York court for alleged sexual assault on a hotel maid.

However, reports quoting lawyers for Strauss-Kahn said the IMF chief was at a restaurant having lunch with his daughter at the time when the sexual assault was alleged to have been committed.

France's RMC radio said the lawyers claimed to have evidence to show that Strauss-Kahn left the hotel at midday, after paying his bill and handing in his key, and then went to eat with his daughter and took a taxi to the airport.

Strauss-Kahn had already left the hotel at the time he allegedly chased the maid down a corridor and forced her into a room and assaulted her, RMC reported on its website.

The IMF chief will plead not guilty to charges of a criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape, which threaten to bring a humiliating end to his career, his lawyers have said.

A center-left former finance minister, he was seen as a tough opposition to current French President Nicolas Sarcasm.