Dominique Strauss Khan, a top contender for the French Presidency in 2012 and current head of the International Monetary Fund, on Sunday was escorted in handcuffs by police officers as he departed a New York Police Department precinct in New York.

It was the first public appearance for Strauss-Kahn since Saturday when he was arrested on charges that he committed a criminal sexual attack and attempted rape on a hotel maid, 32, at the Sofitel hotel in Times Squares in Manhattan.

He was being held in the NYPD Special Victims Unit headquarters in Harlem.

A businessman looks at share prices on an electronic board outside a brokerage in Tokyo
A businessman looks at share prices displayed outside a brokerage in Tokyo December 11, 2009. REUTERS
IMF New York International Monetary Fund New York