'Doubts' over Strauss-Kahn case

Law enforcement officials have told US media the accuser has repeatedly lied since the alleged attack on 14 May.

The Guinean-born maid also appeared to have lied in her asylum application, officials reportedly said.

Strauss-Kahn is due in court on Friday. His lawyers are expected to ask for his bail conditions to be relaxed.

The 62-year-old French politician has been under house arrest in a New York apartment since posting a total $6m cash bail and bond in May. He has armed guards, electronic surveillance and wears an electronic ankle monitor.

He is charged with seven counts including four felony charges - two of criminal sexual acts, one of attempted rape and one of sexual abuse - plus three misdemeanour offences, including unlawful imprisonment.

Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund to defend himself, vigorously denies the charges.

In earlier court hearings, prosecutors had spoken of the strength of their case. One attorney said the proof against him was "substantial".

But US media now report that prosecutors plan to outline their concerns about the 32-year-old maid's credibility to the judge in Friday's court hearing.

Although forensic tests found unambiguous evidence of a sexual encounter between Strauss-Kahn and the woman, prosecutors now do not believe much of what the accuser has told them about the circumstances or about herself, The New York Times reports.

They are troubled by inconsistencies over claims she made in her application for asylum, as well as possible links to people involved in drug dealing and money laundering, the newspaper says.

The maid, an immigrant from the West African state of Guinea, told the authorities that Strauss-Kahn accosted her after she entered his room in New York's Sofitel hotel to clean it.

The defence team had been expected to argue that a sexual encounter occurred, but that it was consensual.

Strauss-Kahn was seen as a leading candidate to be the next centre-left French presidential candidate until news of the accusations broke.