Dominique Strauss-Kahn leaves New York for France

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was all smiles as he stepped into a van leading him and his family to a France-bound flight Saturday.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was all smiles Saturday as he put New York in the rear-view mirror and apparently headed home to France.

The French pol, his stand-by-me wife Anne Sinclair and their daughter, Camille, were whisked out of Tribeca to Kennedy Airport.

"Bye-bye," Sinclair said, smiling as she walked out of the rented Franklin St. pad that served as her husband's home base after he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in May.

The family got into a 14-seat van with about a half-dozen pieces of luggage.

Dressed in a black suit and white checked button-down shirt, Strauss-Kahn, 62, looked thrilled to be getting out of the city where he was perp walked less than four months ago.

He would not answer any questions, but he kept a happy expression plastered on his face as a media throng surrounded him.

Strauss-Kahn was France's presidential front-runner until he was hauled off an Air France jet in May and charged with forcing a Manhattan maid to perform oral sex on him.

A grand jury indicted him, but the case fell apart after prosecutors revealed the accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, had lied about her background. Charges were dropped last month.

Soon after, Strauss-Kahn flew to Washington for a farewell at the International Monetary Fund, where he was the chief until his arrest.

He came back to New York to pack up the rented house before his return to France, where the Socialist Party leader is still considered a potent political force.

But his problems may not be over.

A French writer has filed a formal complaint accusing him of trying to rape her during a 2003 interview; he denies it.

And Diallo, 33, is continuing with a civil suit against him even though Manhattan prosecutors say she was too untrustworthy to put before a jury.