Strauss-Kahn's accuser summoned to meeting with prosecutors, in sign that at least some of the charges will be dropped

Prosecutors are expected to drop sexual assault and other charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund director, at a court hearing on Tuesday.

Lawyers representing Strauss-Kahn's accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, say she has been summoned to a meeting with prosecutors in New York on Monday which they believe to be a sign that at least some of the charges, including the most serious, will be abandoned.

Diallo alleged that Strauss-Kahn, 62, attempted to rape her after she went to clean his hotel suite. The former IMF chief has said that the sexual encounter with Diallo was consensual and has accused her of attempting to extort money.

Diallo's lawyers believe the Manhattan district attorney's office will ask the court to drop the charges because her credibility as a witness was eroded after it was revealed she lied on an application for asylum in the US about being raped by soldiers in her native Guinea.

"My interpretation of that letter is they are going to announce they are dismissing the case entirely, or some of the charges," Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, told the New York Times. "If they were not going to dismiss the charges there would be no need to meet her. They would just go to court the next day to say, 'We're going to proceed with the case.'"

Thompson criticised the decision: "The tone of the letter is consistent with the unfair way the Manhattan district attorney's office has treated Ms Diallo throughout this process. It's as if she is the defendant and Strauss-Kahn is the victim."

The former IMF chief is still facing a civil suit filed by Diallo a fortnight ago seeking damages for a "violent and sadistic" attack.