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| Dominique Strauss-Kahn Source: nytimes.com |
I was really astonished when I read about a scandal that emerged after the IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been stopped last Saturday from boarding a flight to Paris. He had been detained right before the flight was supposed to take off from JFK. He was accused of sexually attacking a maid in a hotel suite where he stayed at in New York. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges according to his lawyer, but a court ruled on Monday that no bail would be set for him. Since he was detained he was not able to attend the EU summit on Portugal’s bailout and the discussion on Greece’s re-negation demands. He was replaced as acting chief of IMF by John Lipsky on Sunday.
The end of his reputation
I think this is a scandal that a person of his magnitude cannot shake off. Even though it might be true or not, the damage has already happened. This is a scandal that is just now unfolding and I cannot believe a person of his magnitude would do such a thing. This will possibly completely destroy his career and reputation, especially his chances of being chosen as the socialist president candidate in the upcoming French election, for which he expected to announce his candidacy this summer. One could say that this might be a smear campaign against him with the aim to destroy his reputation or maybe he is just guilty of the horrible crimes he is accused of.
Some of the headlines in the newspapers over the weekend have been:
"I.M.F. Chief, Apprehended at Airport, Is Accused of Sexual Attack"
– The New York Times, 14 May 2011
"IMF Amid Scandal Turns to Lipsky as Greece Talks Persist"
– Bloomberg Businessweek, 16 May 2011
All I know is that this is a scandal that most people in the political and financial world are appalled at and we just have to wait to see the outcome of it.
