2nd banker in hotel sex bust

Groped maid at superposh Pierre: cops LARRY CELONA, JAMIE SCHRAM and TIM PERONE
May 31, 2011
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/nd_banker_in_hotel_sex_bust_5t8SbxVPtY026XJSdsJPJM

Another international moneyman has been busted for sexually assaulting a maid at a luxury Manhattan hotel, cops said last night.

Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar -- the 74-year-old former chairman of Egypt's Bank of Alexandria -- allegedly groped and "gyrated" against the maid in Room 1027 at The Pierre hotel on Fifth Avenue, a law-enforcement source told The Post.

He was wearing a bathrobe at the time, but it was not clear what, if anything, he had on under it.

The alleged attack came just two weeks after Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, was charged with sexually assaulting a maid at the Sofitel hotel in Midtown.

Omar summoned the 44-year-old woman to his room to bring tissues at around 6 p.m. Sunday and quickly locked the door behind her, according to police.

Then, the elderly banker allegedly grabbed her breasts and began kissing her on the lips and neck.

She bravely stood up to him, the source said.

"I'm not up here for that," she told him.

Omar -- who is now the head of El.Mex Salinas, a Middle East-based salt-mining company -- then asked the woman for her phone number, according to the source.

The quick-thinking maid gave him a fake number.

At that point, Omar stepped back and she was able to unlock the door and flee, the source said.

She ran directly to a manager to report the alleged attack.

But the manager told her she had to tell her own supervisor, who wasn't working at the time, according to the source.

The woman reported the attack yesterday and cops were called at around 9:30 a.m., officials said.

"Experienced NYPD detectives found the complainant to be credible," police spokesman Paul Browne said.

Omar -- who lives in Alexandria -- was taken into custody at the hotel, across from Central Park at East 61st Street.

He was brought to the 19th Precinct station house and charged with sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching and harassment.

Before Omar left the station house, three friends visited the precinct.

"We are friends of his and just wanted to check up on him," said one man in the group who did not identify himself. "We wanted to make sure he was alive. He's an old man but a good man, a family man. He's a grandfather. We just wanted to be sure he was alright."

News of the alleged attack surprised at least one hotel worker.

"People were saying nice things about [him]. They were saying good things about that man," said the worker, who asked not to be identified.

But another employee, who also did not want his name printed, was angry that a colleague had allegedly been attacked.

"Maybe we should have our staff trained to deal with that type of person," he said.

"You never know who you are going to run into."

A Pierre spokeswoman did not immediately return calls for comment.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Harshbarger, Frank Rosario and Wilson Dizard

larry.celona@nypost.com