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Washington. The scandal engulfing US Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain deepened as one of two women accusing him of sexual harassment issued a statement that could be made public Friday.

Cain, who has joined former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at the head of the Republican field, insists he is innocent of harassing two women when he was president of the National Restaurant Association between 1996 and 1999.

Joel Bennett, a lawyer for one of the accusers, lodged her written statement on Thursday with the association. Its contents were unknown but it could for the first time tell her version of the story and shed some light on the nature of the allegations against Cain.

The association said it would decide on Friday whether the statement could be made public, after its lawyers have finished reviewing the confidentiality clause in the financial settlement it signed with her back in 1999.

“Our outside counsel was contacted by Mr. Bennett today and was asked to provide a response to a proposed statement by tomorrow afternoon,” said the restaurant group’s senior vice president for public affairs, Sue Hensley.

“We are currently reviewing the document, and we plan to respond tomorrow.”

Bennett has indicated that his client, who is now a government employee, is angry at Cain’s contention that her allegations are false and is keen to set the record straight.

“My expectation is if we reach an agreement, the statement that will be issued will not identify her,” he told National Public Radio. “She’s a private person who does not want to become a public figure.”

Four days after news Web site Politico broke the story, the scandal continued to hog the news cycle, drowning out most other coverage of the Republican race as more details dripped out.

Politico revealed that the settlement paid to the woman who has issued the statement was $45,000.

The New York Times reported that a second association employee received $35,000, a year’s pay, after she too complained that Cain had harassed her. Little else has been reported about this second accuser.

After initial denials, Cain belatedly conceded Tuesday that he was aware that one female employee had received a paid settlement but continued to deny any knowledge of a second accuser.

A stumbling response, which has included several contradictions, has raised doubts about the political outsider’s ability to campaign under the harsh glare of the media spotlight.

His campaign, however, boasts that it is raking in more financial contributions than ever.

Cain, 65, rowed back from accusations that Texas Governor Rick Perry, a rival for the nomination, had dredged up the allegations as a “smear campaign” to derail his White House bid.

Perry, who rushed to the front of the pack in August when he threw his hat into the race after weeks of fevered speculation, has slipped back badly in the opinion polls after some weak debate performances.

The 61-year-old political veteran, who has never lost an election and has governed America’s second-largest state for almost 11 years, said he didn’t expect an apology from Cain and wasn’t surprised by the flak flying around.

“I tell people, this isn’t my first rodeo. They’re going to say all kinds of things about folks,” he told CNN.

Romney, who has stayed largely above the fray, is considered by most pundits to be the favorite for the nomination, but it is still early in the contest and Cain’s enduring popularity still threatens an upset.

How he emerges from the sexual harassment scandal is likely to determine whether he is a serious contender when the Republican primaries, the state-by-state battle for the nomination, begin in earnest in January.

The winner earns the right to go face-to-face with President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election. The White House incumbent is seen as vulnerable, particularly because the US economy is flagging.

Agence France-Presse