Now that Manhattan prosecutors have dropped the high-profile sexual assault case against him, former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn can travel again.
Strauss-Kahn's passport was returned to his lawyers on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the passport's return, which was done privately.
It is not clear when Strauss-Kahn might use the passport. He has said he “can't wait to go back” to his native France but he has other things to do first. The IMF has said he plans to visit its headquarters in Washington, DC, where he also has a home, as early as next week.
Strauss-Kahn lawyers Benjamin Brafman and William W Taylor aren't divulging their client's next move.
A weekend trip to New York in May turned into an arrest, nearly a week in jail and about three months in a hastily rented, $50 000-a-month town home for the 62-year-old economist, former diplomat and one-time French presidential prospect. He was initially on house arrest and under armed guard.
Strauss-Kahn resigned his IMF post days after his arrest, saying he wanted to focus on clearing himself in the criminal case.
IMF spokesman David Hawley wouldn't say on Thursday why Strauss-Kahn planned to visit. But the former managing director may want to say farewell to former colleagues and apologise in person to the staffers if they feel his involvement in the sex case tarnished the 187-nation lending organisation's reputation.
The visit could take place next week and would not be open to the press or public, Hawley said.
On Tuesday, the attempted-rape and other charges against Strauss-Kahn, who's married, were dismissed after prosecutors said they no longer considered his accuser reliable. The accuser, a hotel maid from Guinea, had lied to prosecutors about her background and varied her account of her actions after her May 14 encounter with him, they said.
The maid, Nafissatou Diallo, 33, says her account of Strauss-Kahn forcing her to perform oral sex is entirely true, and she's pursuing the allegations in a lawsuit that seeks unspecified damages from him. Her lawyer has criticised the Manhattan district attorney's office for dropping the case.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers say whatever happened after Diallo arrived to clean his hotel suite was consensual.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they choose to identify themselves publicly, as Diallo has done. - Sapa-AP