The former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seems unlikely to pay a big price for a sordid sex act in a New York hotel in May.
His victim — or partner, depending on how you read the evidence — now seems likely to pay an enormous price for lying about another sex act.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, is a free man today after charges against him were dropped on Tuesday.
Nafissatou Diallo, 32, is under intense and increasing public scrutiny.
Strauss-Kahn lusted to become the president of France. He was widely considered the front runner to succeed the conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the next presidential election, notwithstanding his reputation as a serial philanderer.
In French political history, that has been an asset rather than a liability, but Strauss-Kahn’s desire for quick sex with a New York hotel chambermaid initially seemed certain to derail his lofty ambitions.
Three months ago, he was hauled off a jet scheduled to return to France and taken into police custody, charged with attempted rape and sexual assault, after Diallo told police she had been forced to perform oral sex on him.
Four days later Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the IMF.
Conviction would have ended his political life.
There’s no doubt that Strauss Kahn performed a sex act. Police collected forensic evidence in the hotel room confirming it.
The legal issue was whether the sex act was consensual or forced.
Strauss-Kahn is a wealthy man, with the ready capacity to hire the best and most expensive lawyers and investigators.
Diallo is not.
More seriously, she has lied about sex in the past to further her personal ambitions and lied about other things to ease her life.
Shortly after the sexual encounter took place, stories emerged in the fiercely competitive New York news business that Diallo told a friend she hoped to make a lot of money from a lawsuit against Strauss-Kahn.
It was also revealed that she lied about having AIDS to qualify for subsidized housing and lied about having a second dependent child to reduce her tax bill.
Most egregiously, she lied about sex to win entry into the United States from her home in western Africa. A phony story about being gang raped there helped Diallo secure refuge in New York.
Revelation of that stunning lie pretty much put an end to any hopes of successfully prosecuting Strauss-Kahn.
“She has not been truthful, on matters great and small, many pertaining to her background and some relating to the circumstances of the incident itself,” the New York prosecutors wrote in abandoning their case against Strauss-Kahn this week.
Prosecutors acknowledge that Diallo changed her story three times, including telling falsehoods while under oath.
Now she faces a drumbeat of public opinion to be deported from the United States because she secured her entry on false pretences.
Given the rising tide of public disdain for her, that’s not a sentiment government officials can easily ignore.
Strauss-Kahn, on the other hand, is now free to go where he wants, including back to France, where he is colloquially known as “the great seducer” for his extensive series of sexual affairs.
The next French presidential election is scheduled for the spring of 2012.
Six candidates have declared their intention to lead the Socialist Party ticket, and unseat the deeply unpopular conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.
This week’s stunning events in New York open the door for Strauss-Kahn to enter that race, where he would immediately become a front runner.
In France, illicit sex seems no impediment to political ambitions. One French president died in the bed of his mistress. In recent history, only Charles de Gaulle is credited with practising fidelity to his wife.
Francois Mitterand was beloved and respected, serving 14 years as president of France. When he died in 1996, his wife, mistress and the children Mitterand fathered with both women gathered together at his graveside to mourn his passing.
That’s unthinkable to North American political sensibilities. How can a nation trust a man to honestly lead a nation when he can’t be trusted to uphold a sacred vow to his most beloved partner in life?
Strauss-Kahn has been married three times and cheated on all three wives.
In North America, that would be a sign of a deeply flawed and untrustworthy character.
In France, c’est la vie.
In Africa, it may be a grim nouvelle vie for Diallo.
Joe McLaughlin is the retired former managing editor of the Red Deer Advocate.