French police interview Strauss-Kahn ex-wife in Banon case

Police have questioned Dominique Strauss-Kahn's ex-wife, Brigitte Guillemette, as part of an investigation into a French writer's claims he tried to rape her in 2003, a judicial source said.

Guillemette is the godmother of journalist Tristane Banon, 32, who has lodged a formal complaint against the former International Monetary Fund chief awaiting his next court appearance in New York on a sex assault case there.

Detectives from the violent crimes squad interviewed his ex-wife on Friday, a source said, confirming a report on the  Le Point news magazine website. Banon's mother, Anne Mansouret, has said recently in several press interviews that she had contacted Strauss-Kahn's ex-wife shortly after the alleged sexual assault on her daughter.

Banon accuses Strauss-Kahn of attacking her during an interview in February 2003 in a central Paris flat. She was herself questioned by police on July 11. Police also interviewed Friday an online journalist who had worked with Banon, the source said. Prosecutors will later decide whether to charge the
62-year-old Socialist politician, who was at one time expected to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's presidential election.

Strauss-Kahn faces criminal charges in New York for allegedly trying to rape a 32-year-old hotel maid in May, which he denies. He has also dismissed Banon's claims and his lawyers said they have filed a lawsuit for defamation against the young writer, who in a 2007 television interview accused Strauss-Kahn of trying to force himself on her "like a rutting chimpanzee."