Strauss-Kahn DNA reportedly found on chambermaid's clothes.

Media reports quoting a source close to the inquiry, said on Monday that investigators found traces of semen from former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on the clothes of the hotel maid who has accused him of attempted rape.

Reuters/Richard Drew

DNA was found on the shirt of the 32-year-old woman who said she was attacked in Strauss Kahn's New York hotel suite, according to the American TV channels NBC and ABC, who quoted sources close to the investigation.

But neither police, nor prosecutors nor Strauss-Kahn's lawyers would comment on the reports.

The evidence could prove that there was a sexual encounter, but not that there was violence of any kind, experts said.

Strauss-Kahn denies the charges against him, which include sexual assault and attempted rape.

In an email message sent to IMF staff on Sunday, he expressed "profound sadness" at the way he had left his post.

"I deny in the strongest possible terms the allegations which I now face; I am confident that the truth will come out and I will be exonerated," he wrote."In the meantime, I cannot accept that the Fund - and you dear colleagues - should in any way have to share my own personal nightmare. So, I had to go."

Strauss-Kahn is living under strict surveillance in the Empire Building at 71 Broadway, where management has apologized to residents and said the new arrival will be gone by "early" this week.

His wealthy wife, French television journalist Anne Sinclair, had previously arranged a 15,000 dollar per month apartment on the Upper East Side, but local residents protested that they did not want him living there, and she was forced to find alternative accommodation.

Sinclair left the Broadway apartment for a few hours on Sunday on what was believed to be part of the new hunt for a home.

Meanwhile the legal battle is intensifying ahead of his next court appearance on 6 June to make a formal plea.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyer Benjamin Brafman visited his client on Monday.

He has already said his client will plead not guilty and that he is confident his client will go free.

The defence team has hired a posse of private investigators who, according to media reports, are already sifting through the 32-year-old accuser's personal history in New York and her native Guinea in West Africa.

Prosecutors told Strauss-Kahn's bail hearing last week that they are also building a "strong" case in support of the accusations.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested on an Air France flight just as it was about to leave New York's John F. Kennedy airport, a few hours after the alleged attack.