Woman in China Red Cross scandal speaks up

A young woman embroiled in a Red Cross scandal in China broke her silence in a TV interview last week. Guo Meimei, 20, hit the headlines in July for boasting online about her luxurious lifestyle and claiming she works for the Red Cross Society of China as its general manager.

She uploaded photos of her posing with Maserati and Lamborghini cars, expensive handbags and a palatial villa. Since then, she has become the hottest topic on the country's major micro-blog website, Weibo.com.

Guo's rumoured 'boyfriend', Wang Jun, was also reported to have resigned from the board of directors of a company that has ties to China's Red Cross Society.  In the television interview, "Decoding Finance", Guo explains she is not the 'business general manager' of Red Cross and that it was a misunderstanding.

According to her, Wang is her godfather and had set up a company called Zhong Hong Bo Ai, or China Red Cross Bo'ai Asset Management - a subsidiary that has ties with the Commercial Red Cross. She claimed that her godfather and business partners told her to work for the new company.
"I said: 'Okay, but if it's anything below general manager level' - I was joking - 'I won't do it.' They said, 'Then we'll let you be general manager.' Actually they were just placating me like a child, and I didn't really believe them," explained Guo.

She said that 'vanity and competitiveness' had led her to change her job title in Weibo from singer and actress to China Red Cross Business General Manager. Guo also claimed that she did not know that the name of the company was Zhong Hong bo Ai and only knew that it was 'China-something Red-something', so she changed it to China Red Cross.

In the interview, Guo said she had questioned herself whether she could be a general manager at such a young age and Wang replied: "If you don't know, then learn."

When asked who is this godfather of hers, Guo replied that he is not the Wang Jun of Red Cross as what netizens have been saying online. She said that she saw some reports saying that it could have been a vice-chairman in the Red Cross who shares the same name as her godfather.
"My godfather is from Shenzhen. He's a businessman. I think he's a real estate investor or something," said Guo.

One of the pictures that caused outrage was of Guo posing in front of a Maserati, leading to netizens claiming that she owns a Lamborghini as well. Guo explained in the interview that one of her cars is a Maserati but the other one is a Mini Cooper which her mother had given her on her 18th birthday.

In July, secretary-general of the Red Cross Society of China, Wang Rupeng, said the society had suffered because this case had become a way for the public to express its hatred of the rich. He said that it was unfair to the Red Cross as they had nothing to do with Guo.

At the height of the scandal, some netizens said they would never donate to the Red Cross again. Experts say the anger caused by this case is a result of long-held distrust of the society's allocation of funds and its opaque operations.

In a recent scandal about the misuse of donations, the society was found to have overspent 4.2 million yuan (S$793,000), exceeding by 34 per cent the accepted budget, on equipment procurement in December 2009, according to a report released by the National Audit Office on the implementation of the government's budget.

The reputation of Red Cross Society was already tainted in April when a picture of an invoice was uploaded on the Internet that claimed to show that the Luwan branch of the Red Cross Society of China in Shanghai had spent 9,859 yuan ($1,900) on a meal. The bill meant each seat at the table cost more than 500 yuan.

Sex Scandal: Parents react to lawsuit against Ratigan, Diocese

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Parents of a young girl are suing the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese while others applaud the move.

The lawsuit, which will be filed Thursday, accuses the diocese, Bishop Robert Finn and Father Shawn Ratigan of a cover-up.Ratigan, currently in the Clay County Detention facing possession of child pornography charges, now faces a lawsuit along with his former employer.

“I’m not shocked because it seems like they were hiding a lot of things and now things are coming out,” said Thu Meng, a parent whose child attends St. Patrick’s School, where Ratigan was once assigned. The lawsuit comes from the parents of a 7-year-old girl. Lawyers, in a release, said the girl is a victim. Those lawyers said Ratigan, while working for a church in Easton, Missouri, took pictures of the girl when she was 2- or 3-years-old. The suit alleges Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn, trying to avoid a church scandal, concealed sexually inappropriate photos found on Ratigan’s computer.

When asked for their opinions about the matter, parents leaving St. Patrick’s School did not mince words Wednesday.
“Good for them (the parents filing the lawsuit),” said Matthew Copple, a parent at the school. “The diocese needs to be held accountable.”
“I hope that the diocese is forced to change everything around, their policies, procedures, everything,” Meng said.
“The teachers here obviously saw something going on and tried to get something done about it and the diocese was silent,” Copple said.

That changed last week when a letter from the St. Patrick’s School principal surfaces. It detailed numerous allegations against Ratigan, even saying he “fit the profile of a child predator.” Members of the bishop’s staff knew about the letter for a year. However, they did nothing. Friday, Bishop Finn apologized.
“I have to change,” Bishop Finn said.
His words could not stop one lawsuit. However, St. Patrick’s parents hope the diocese response changes everything.

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.