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IMF chief's affair investigated
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-20 07:27 The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday it was investigating whether its chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn abused his power in an affair with a subordinate who has since left the global institution.
The subordinate, Piroska Nagy, a former senior economist at the IMF's Africa division, was not given preferential treatment before leaving the IMF in August, her lawyer said. The investigation of the IMF managing director comes as several countries turn to the fund for financing to help ease the effects of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression and politicians consider its role in preventing future crises. The Washington-based lender said in a statement the investigation was ordered by Shakour Shaalan, head of the IMF's 24-member board, after the matter came to his attention during the summer. It is being handled by an outside law firm and is to be completed by the end of this month. "All allegations, particularly those involving senior management, are taken extremely seriously," an IMF spokesman said. "The dean has asked external counsel to conduct an independent investigation and determine the validity of the allegations," the spokesman added. Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister who came to the job just under a year ago, said he was cooperating with the investigation. "With my full support the IMF is examining an incident which occurred in my private life in January 2008," Strauss-Kahn said in a statement. "I have cooperated and am continuing to cooperate with outside counsel to the Fund concerning the matter." "At no time did I abuse my position as the fund's managing director," he said. Nagy's lawyer, Robert Litt of Arnold & Porter said his client took a buyout package in August, along with other IMF staff in a cost cutting drive, and was not pressured to leave. "She accepted a severance package that was generally available, and the terms were the same as were available to others of her grade and seniority," Litt said. "She received no special treatment of any kind, either favorable or unfavorable, and she was not pressured to leave," he said. The IMF probe follows more than a year after former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz was forced to resign amid a staff uproar over a high-paying promotion he authorized for his companion who worked at the bank. The London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where Nagy now works, was not aware of the IMF investigation, a spokesman said. Agencies |
