Lagarde begins 1st day as head of IMF

Former finance minister of France Christine Lagarde was elected to the IMF's top job last week.

(CNN) -- Christine Lagarde is set to take over as the head of the International Monetary Fund Tuesday, the first woman to run the influential financial institution.

Lagarde, who was the finance minister of France, takes over at a crucial time for the IMF as the organization is working closely with the European Union and the European Central Bank to provide financial support for troubled European economies.

Lagarde will serve a five-year term as the global financial institution's managing director and chairman, the IMF said.
"I am deeply honored by the trust placed in me by the Executive Board," Lagarde said in a statement last week. She succeeds Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested earlier this year in New York on sexual assault charges.

The only other contender for the job was Mexican Central Bank chief Agustin Carstens, who was supported by Australia, Canada and Mexico.

The IMF said it selected Lagarde, last week, by a consensus vote. Lagarde was also backed by the United Kingdom, Germany and most European powers, as well as some Asian and African nations. The IMF, which is made up of 187 member countries, has traditionally been led by a Western European official.

Some developing nations had pushed to break that tradition, arguing that the IMF should consider candidates from rising economic powers in Asia and South America.

Lagarde, 55, had been French President Nicolas Sarkozy's finance minister since June 2007. She also served as the country's to foreign trade official.

A lawyer by training, Lagarde was a partner at the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie before going into politics. According to her official biography, Lagarde was born in Paris to school teachers and has two children of her own. She was a member of the French national synchronized swimming team and was inducted into the nation's Legion of Honor in 2000.

Strauss-Kahn case: Accuser’s call to boyfriend alarmed prosecutors

String of revelations cast doubt on credibility of hotel maid who accused IMF chief of sexual assault

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn exits the kitchen of Scalinatella restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Friday night. He was released from house arrest earlier in the day.

NEW YORK — Twenty-eight hours after a housekeeper at the Sofitel New York said she was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, she spoke by phone to a boyfriend in an immigration jail in Arizona.

Investigators with the Manhattan district attorney’s office learned the call had been recorded and had it translated from a “unique dialect of Fulani,” a language from the woman’s native country, Guinea, according to a well-placed law enforcement official.

When the conversation was translated — a job completed only this Wednesday — investigators were alarmed: “She says words to the effect of, ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing,’ ” the official said.

It was another ground-shifting revelation in a continuing series of troubling statements, fabrications and associations that unraveled the case and upended prosecutors’ view of the woman. Once, in the hours after she said she was attacked on May 14, she’d been a “very pious, devout Muslim woman, shattered by this experience,” the official said — a seemingly ideal witness.

 

IMF Chief Resigns After Sex Attack Charges

The IMF chief charged with a sex attack on a hotel maid has resigned from his post ahead of a new bail hearing in New York.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn maintained his innocence in a formal letter to the organisation and said he was quitting with "infinite sadness".
"I think at this time first of my wife - whom I love more than anything - of my children, of my family, of my friends," he said.
"I think also of my colleagues at the fund - together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.
"To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me."
The 62-year-old French citizen - who had been a strong contender for the country's presidency in 2012 - added he would devote "all my strength, all my time, and all my energy" to proving his innocence.

Click here to see pictures related to Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest

There had been widespread speculation over the future of Strauss-Kahn after he was arrested following the alleged attack at the Sofitel hotel in New York at the weekend.
He faced growing pressure to quit as further claims about his private life emerged – including allegations by writer Tristane Banon that he attempted to rape her in 2002.
He is due at a fresh hearing today, where his lawyers will propose $1m bail – which was earlier refused by a judge – and electronic tagging. He has also waived his extradition rights.
Strauss-Kahn is reportedly on suicide watch at New York's Rikers Island prison, although he is not believed to have attempted to harm himself.
His lawyer, William W Taylor, said on Wednesday that his client's mood was "serious but good".

Strauss-Kahn is said to be on suicide watch at Rikers Island

"He is a strong man and he's committed to seeing this through," he added.
There had been fears that without a suitable figure at the helm of the IMF, the organisation - designed to maintain stability in the world economy - could be thrown into disarray just as it attempts to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.
Among the possible candidates touted to replace Strauss-Khan is former prime minister Gordon Brown.
The IMF said it would discuss in the near future the process of selecting a new managing director. For now John Lipsky remains the acting chief.
Economics editor at The Independent Sean O'Grady told Sky News he did not think Strauss-Kahn had much choice over the resignation.
"The Americans call a lot of the shots at the IMF and once he lost their support I think it was only a matter of time and so it has been proved," he said.
Strauss-Kahn faces charges of committing a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching, all of which he denies.
The alleged victim, a 32-year-old widow from West Africa, testified on Wednesday before a grand jury.
It will decide in secret whether there is enough evidence to formally press charges.
A mugshot of Strauss-Kahn taken more than 24 hours after he was pulled from a plane at New York's JFK airport and detained on Saturday, showed him exhausted, his eyes downcast and half-closed.

Strauss-Kahn arrest: IMF head detained at Rikers Island

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been remanded in custody at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail on charges of sexual assault.

The judge said Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, was a flight risk. He was arrested on Saturday after boarding a plane and accused of trying to rape a hotel maid.
He faces seven charges and could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as a favourite in France's 2012 presidential elections, denies the charges.
His lawyer expressed disappointment at bail being denied, but said his client would be exonerated.
"This battle has just begun," defence lawyer Benjamin Brafman told the court.
Mr Strauss-Kahn had been due to attend an EU finance ministers' meeting in Brussels to discuss financial bail-outs.
The IMF has played a central role in organising rescue packages for the troubled economies of Portugal and Greece.
The BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels says the IMF chief has gained the trust of countries in Europe which are giving financial assistance, and those which are receiving it.
The European Union says the scandal should not affect bail-outs for eurozone countries.

Sex scandal hits IMF as French chief is probed over payoff to lover

A sex scandal is sweeping the International Monetary Fund at a time when it should be fully occupied with the global financial crisis.
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is under investigation for allegedly abusing his position after having a sexual relationship with a blonde employee who left with a payoff in August.
The inquiry will consider claims that the 59-year-old former French finance minister gave Piroska Nagy 'special treatment'.

Strauss-Kahn is under investigation over claims he abused his position after having a sexual relationship with Piroska Nagy

Yesterday his cheated wife Anne Sinclair, 60, one of France's most glamorous and respected TV journalists, broke her silence over the affair.
She dismissed it as a 'one-night stand which is now behind us', and said she was still in love with him.
The scandal has sparked a leadership crisis at the IMF. It comes 15 months after former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz was forced to quit because of alleged favouritism to a junior staff member with whom he had a longstanding relationship.
It has caused huge embarrassment to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who campaigned last year to install Strauss-Kahn, his former political rival, as the IMF's chief executive.
After British complaints that the job should go to a candidate from outside Europe, the appointment of France's former Socialist finance minister was viewed from Paris as a triumph.
The elegant Miss Nagy, an economist, had been working closely with her charismatic boss at the IMF's Washington headquarters when her Argentinian husband Mario Blejer found 'explicit' emails exposing the affair in January this year. Miss Nagy's lawyer said she accepted a buyout package in August, along with other IMF staff in a cost-cutting drive and was not pressured to leave.
She is now working in London for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
'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,' said the lawyer.
'She received no special treatment of any kind.'

'Still in love': Anne Sinclair with her husband Strauss-Kahn

Investigators are examining claims that Strauss-Kahn either removed his lover from the IMF because her position within the organisation might embarrass him, or else sacked her as an act of retribution when she refused to continue their relationship.
They are also investigating claims that Miss Nagy's severance package was excessive for a person of her position.
Sources said members who had knowledge of the allegations might have been able to use that information in policy and funding disputes with their boss.
Strauss-Kahn has insisted he is co-operating with IMF investigators over the affair.
He said: 'It was an incident in my private life and at no time did I abuse my position as the fund's managing director.'
His wife Miss Sinclair, the daughter of a French mother and American father, married Strauss-Kahn in 1991 after she divorced journalist Ivan Levai. Strauss-Khan had been married twice before and the couple have several children with their previous partners.
She yesterday wrote on her blog that her husband was innocent of abusing his position.
'There is an internal inquiry at the IMF,' she said. 'We are calmly waiting for its conclusion. This shouldn't take too long.
'For my part, this one-night-stand is now behind us. We have turned the page. Can I add that we love each other as much now as when we first met.'
Strauss-Kahn had a high-flying political career during which, as finance minister from 1997-99, he was credited for the economic revival of France.
He was then forced to resign from Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's government after he was caught up in a corruption scandal.
Despite clearing his name, he failed to win the Socialist Party's nomination for the 2005 presidential election.
Commentators have always pointed to the flamboyant Strauss-Kahn's reputation as a ladies' man. Viewed in Paris as a 'champagne socialist', he has been linked with a number of glamorous women over the years.
A young, unnamed actress also recently claimed that Strauss-Kahn acted 'like a gorilla' after inviting her back to a Paris flat.
And Jean Quatremer, of French daily newspaper Liberation, last year wrote that Strauss-Kahn's 'only real problem' was his fondness for women.