Dominique Strauss-Kahn walked slowly out of the courthouse on Friday with his arm on his wife's shoulder after he was released from house arrest without bail.

The developments come after prosecutors conducted an extensive background check on the hotel maid who is accusing the former International Monetary Fund chief of sexual assault.

The charges against Strauss-Kahn have not been dropped and the trial will resume on July 18.

Despite the judge's decision to strike Strauss-Kahn's $6 million bail to nothing, the maid's attorney did not back down on the seriousness of the charges brought against the ex-IMF chief.

"From day one she has described a violent sexual assault that Dominique Strauss-Kahn committed against her," attorney Ken Thompson said of the woman's allegations. "She has described that sexual assault many times, to prosecutors and to me, and she has never once changed a single thing about that encounter," he said.

On Thursday, questions surrounding the 32-year-old woman's credibility were first brought to light after prosecutors were approached by the defence attorney to clarify inconsistencies in the maid's personal history.

According to Thompson, his client had lied not only on her application for asylum in the U.S. from her native Guinea but had also lied to the IRS about having two children despite only having one.

Thompson said the woman went to the district attorney with information that her asylum application was flawed and that she exaggerated on it because she was afraid of being sent back to Guinea.

He said she came to the U.S. because she was a victim of female genital mutilation in the West African nation and she was scared her 15-year-old daughter would be victimized as well.

Thompson also said that media reports of his client's involvement with drug dealers are a lie and the semen found on his client's hotel uniform shows there was a sexual assault.

"(Thompson) looks forward to proving that in court," CNN correspondent Holly Firfer told CTV News Channel on Friday.

Under the terms of the 62-year-old's previous confinement, the former economic steward was required to wear an ankle monitor and be kept under video surveillance. He could only leave for court, weekly religious services and visits to doctors and his lawyers.

The security measures were estimated to cost him about $200,000 a month.

News of the maid's questionable credibility gave renewed hope from allies of the prominent Socialist Party member that his bid for president of France can be revived.

"Those who know Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not be surprised by this evolution of events," one of Strauss-Kahn's French lawyers, Leon Lef Forster, told The Associated Press. "What he was accused of has no relation to his personality. It was something that was not credible."

Prior to his arrest, Strauss-Kahn was considered a leading contender for the 2012 presidential election in France.

His arrest appeared to dash his ambitions for France's top job.

The deadline to declare candidacy for the party's presidential primary is July 13. The primary vote is scheduled for October.

For months prior to Strauss-Khan's arrest, polls suggested that he would beat current president Nicolas Sarkozy. Even after his arrest, Strauss-Kahn's popularity among French citizens did not wane.

Within days of his arrest in New York, a poll suggested that a majority of French believed Strauss-Kahn -- nicknamed "the great seducer" -- was the victim of a plot.

Earlier this week, Socialist Party chief Martine Aubry, a long-time supporter of Strauss-Kahn, announced her own bid for presidency.

She said news of the maid's questionable credibility brought her "immense joy."

"I hope that the American justice system establishes all the truth tonight and allows Dominique to get out of this nightmare," she told reporters.

French politician Michele Sabban said Friday that the Socialists should put on hold the presidential primary calendar because of the new developments.

"If Dominique Strauss-Kahn is cleared, I ask the Socialist Party to suspend the primary process," Sabban said Friday on i-tele television.

With files from the Associated Press