Strauss-Kahn and Tristane Banon leave police station after face-to-face confrontation

Former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn had a two and a half hour face-to-face confrontation at a Paris police station on Thursday with the French writer who accuses him of attempting to rape her in 2003.

Reuters

Dominique Strauss-Kahn left the police station just before midday, after the meeting which ended just after 11.30 am.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Henri Leclerc told journalists waiting outside the building that "DSK maintained his version of events and so did she".

The lawyer refused to give any further details, and when asked whether his client had expressed remorse, he said there was "no reason to apologise".

There were no lawyers present during the actual confrontation, but Banon's lawyer, David Koubbi told the left-leaning French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur that he had confidence in the work of the police unit dealing with the complaint.

However he raised questions over why the Paris prosecutor had not agreed to interview Piroska Nagy, who was involved in a relationship with Strauss-Kahn while he was boss of the IMF.

Koubbi told the French weekly that Nagy's description of encounters with Strauss-Kahn closely resembled his client's complaint.

He also questioned why witnesses in the case were not granted anonymity, declaring that some feared reprisals from Strauss-Kahn and his entourage.

And the lawyer suggested that the decision to allow a face to face meeting between Strauss-Kahn and his accuser was taken only after a new Paris Director of Prosecutions was appointed on 16 September.

Tristane Banon said before Thursday's confrontation with Strauss-Kahn "I would like him to look me in the eyes and tell me that what happened is all in my imagination."

Sources close to the inquiry say Strauss-Kahn told police in an interview on 12 September that he had "made advances" to Banon, but that there had been no aggression or violence.