Also Tuesday, Spain’s finance chief, Elena Salgado, called the allegations against the IMF chief “extraordinarily serious” and added that “if I had to show my solidarity and support for someone, it would be toward the woman who has been assaulted.”
Their comments breach what has been a general silence among officials toward the substance of the allegations against Strauss-Kahn. In France, the case has triggered outrage over what is perceived as the brusque treatment of a man who, until Saturday, was considered a top potential contender in next year’s French presidential elections.
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IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was placed under a suicide watch in jail while the hotel maid who accused him of attempted rape said through her lawyer that she had no idea who he was when she reported him to the police. (May 17)
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May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Benjamin Brafman, the lawyer for International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn talks with reporters following Kahn's arraignment about the court's decision to deny him bail.
At the same time, the arrest has resurrected prior debates about Strauss-Kahn’s relationships with women. According to European news reports, writer Tristane Banon said through her attorney that she was considering filing a complaint against Strauss-Kahn on the basis of a nearly decade-old incident in which she claims he molested her. Strauss-Kahn was reprimanded by the IMF board in 2008 for an affair with a female staffer at the agency but was allowed to keep his job.
At a Tuesday briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the Obama administration had “full confidence in the IMF and its continued capacity to fulfill its obligations” under Lipsky. Carney declined to comment on whether Strauss-Kahn should remain in the IMF job or to discuss whether the United States would support a non-European successor.
The hesitancy to comment is probably appropriate at this point in the process, said Tony Fratto, a George W. Bush administration spokesman during the protracted battle over Paul D. Wolfowitz’s presidency of the World Bank, which ended in his resignation over a pay package provided to a female staffer.
Executive boards at agencies such as the World Bank and the IMF, Fratto said, tend to be passive in situations like this, preferring that top employees who get into trouble resign without being compelled to do so.
But there are risks in letting such situations linger.
“You want it resolved before the staff . . . start sending petitions saying he has to step down,” as happened with Wolfowitz, said Fratto, managing partner at Hamilton Place Strategies. “. . . There is a sense that boards do not like to fire people. . . . I am sure that is where this board is now. The problem with the situation is that he is at Rikers Island, and how do you have that discussion with him?”
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