Strauss-Kahn set for live TV interview

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is set to give his first television interview since charges that he attempted to rape a hotel maid in New York were dropped. The former International Monetary Fund chief will appear on France's TF1 channel on Sunday evening. He will be questioned by Claire Chazal, a friend of his wife Anne Sinclair. The laywers for the maid said Mr Strauss-Kahn should face "pointed questions" about the incident otherwise it would be a "publicity stunt". Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, resigned as IMF chief in May after his arrest for the alleged attempted rape of Nafissatou Diallo, 32, at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan. The charges were dropped in August when prosecutors said the accuser's lack of credibility meant the case could not continue. She is bringing a civil suit against him.The interview will take place during the 20:00 (18:00 GMT) news.Analysts say Ms Chazal, an ex-colleague of Ms Sinclair, is not known for aggressive questioning and Mr Strauss-Kahn will be well prepared. The maid's lawyers, Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor, said Mr Strauss-Kahn should "answer pointed questions about his conduct on 14 May" and if he did not do so the "interview will simply be a public relations stunt". They said in a statement: "If Mr Strauss-Kahn thinks that people in France will really believe that he was able to convince Ms Diallo, who had never met him before and did not know that he was in the room, to engage in sexual acts with him within a matter of minutes, then he should describe how that happened. "We suspect that he will not do so because any story that he describes will not be plausible." A poll by the Ifop institute found that 53% of those surveyed hoped Mr Strauss-Kahn would use the interview to announce his return to politics, although only 22% hoped he would announce his candidature for next year's presidential election. Before his arrest, he had been expected to be a strong contender to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy.In addition to the New York case, Mr Strauss-Kahn faces an allegation by French author, Tristane Banon, that he tried to rape her in 2003. He denies the allegation and is suing for defamation.He was interviewed by French police last week. An official close to the inquiry told Agence France-Presse that Mr Strauss-Kahn had denied attempted rape and assault but "conceded that he had made advances to her, without being very precise about the nature of these advances".