IMF chief on sex charge is under suicide watch

International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn remained in jail and under suicide watch yesterday as a lawyer for the hotel maid who accused the French politician of attempted rape sought to rebut allegations that her charges were "a setup".

The maid's lawyer, Jeffrey Shapiro, said he had no doubts his client, a single mother, was telling the truth about the alleged encounter on Saturday.

"She came from a country in which poor people had little or no justice, and she's now in a country where the poor have the same rights as do the rich and the powerful," Shapiro said. "What (Strauss-Kahn) might be able to get away with in some countries, he can't here in this country."