Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's allies tried to "buy the silence' of one of his ex-lovers with a four million pound pay off to stop her 'talking too much' about their affair.  

The bid was allegedly made last month when Strauss-Kahn was still facing attempted rape charges in the US, The Telegraph reports.         

It is claimed that Strauss-Kahn's sympathisers in Sarcelles, where he was mayor and deputy mayor from 1997 to 2007, were worried that a testimony from Marie-Victorine M'Bissa about their "forceful' relationship could damage his attempt to set himself free from sex allegation case filed against him by a hotel maid in New York.