NEW YORK — The leader of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested on Saturday, minutes before he was to fly to Paris from John F. Kennedy International Airport, The New York Times reported.

Strauss-Kahn, a candidate for president of France, was taken off an Air France flight by officers from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and turned over to Manhattan detectives, a Port Authority spokesman told the Times.

He was accused of a sodomizing a maid at a Times Square hotel earlier in the day, the authorities said.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly crept up behind a maid after she entered his room and forced her to perform oral sex on him, sources told the New York Daily News.

The woman broke free and ran out of the room, the Post said. Strauss-Khan quickly headed for the airport, sources told the Daily News.

Charges against Strauss-Kahn, married to well-known French TV journalist Anne Sinclair, were pending Saturday night, sources told the Daily News.

Three years ago, the former French finance minister was accused of having a fling with a former underling at the Davos international forum, the Daily News said.