Air France was so used to Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually abusing its female cabin crew that only men were allowed to serve him, it was alleged yesterday.
The astonishing claim came as the former IMF chief and French presidential candidate awaits trial accused of attempting to rape a hotel maid in New York.
Now Nafissatou Diallo, his 32-year-old alleged victim, has received at least two witness statements from air crew who said they were propositioned by the 62-year-old.
So many Air France crew supposedly complained about the man nicknamed the “Great Seducer” that the company was said to have issued a directive saying that only men should work in the first-class sections of its planes when Strauss-Kahn was travelling.
Le Parisien newspaper, which published the claims after receiving an anonymous letter from an Air France staff member, said Strauss-Kahn’s “inexplicable mindset which makes him abuse women is further proof” he could have attacked Diallo on May 14.
The letter reads: “Air France has hundreds of complaints from customers, employees and crew members against the man suspected of abusing Miss Diallo.”
Now Diallo’s American lawyers, Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor, have stepped up their approaches to Air France staff, instructing private investigators to find as many as possible who were abused. “If hostesses feel they have been bothered, embarrassed, or victimised by inappropriate behaviour they can call us,” said Thompson.
As IMF chief, Strauss-Kahn frequently travelled first class on Air France between Paris and New York, and was arrested on a plane immediately after the alleged rape.
His wife, Anne Sinclair, was not with him at the time, and often left him to travel alone.
Strauss-Kahn also denies seven charges of attempted rape and sexual assault arising out of his encounter with Diallo in a Sofitel hotel suite in Manhattan.
Frenchwoman Tristane Banon, a 32-year-old writer, has also accused Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her in Paris in 2003.
Strauss-Kahn is no longer under house arrest, but is barred from leaving America and next appears in court on August 23. He denies all the charges against him, and says any sex with Diallo was consensual.
An Air France spokesman said the company “formally denies” changing the composition of its crews when Strauss-Kahn was a passenger. - Daily Mail