Dominique Strauss-Kahn is set to walk free on Tuesday, August 23, after New York prosecutors said that while the powerful Frenchman did have sex with his hotel maid, they could not prove an assault because the alleged victim's lies undermined the case beyond repair, AFP reported.

Within hours, New York state Judge Michael Obus is due to rule on a motion filed by prosecutors on Monday to dismiss all charges against Strauss-Kahn.

The sensational turn around would leave Strauss-Kahn - forced to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund and shelve his French presidential dreams - free to return to France with his millionaire wife.

But the man who had been widely touted to replace President Nicolas Sarkozy in upcoming elections will return with his reputation badly sullied.

The 25-page motion to drop the case concluded that Strauss-Kahn engaged in a hurried sex act May 14 with the Manhattan maid, a Guinean immigrant called Nafissatou Diallo, and that the initial investigation suggested an assault.