Dominique Strauss-Kahn faced growing pressure to quit as head of the IMF after his arrest on attempted rape charges as Europe sought to fend off a challenge from developing countries to fill a post it has traditionally held.
China, Brazil and South Africa questioned Europe’s right to the job, but Europeans said it made sense for them to retain the post while the IMF plays such a crucial role in helping to ease the eurozone debt crisis.
Strauss-Kahn is expected to remain in New York’s Rikers Island jail, known for its gang violence, at least until his next appearance in court tomorrow, when his lawyers may again request bail. He was denied bail on Monday.
It could be six months before a trial begins, legal experts said, which could severely impair his ability to run the fund.
The IMF said it had not been in touch with Strauss-Kahn since his arrest, but it would be important to do so “in due course.” Two IMF sources said the board would ask Strauss-Kahn whether he planned to continue in his post.
One source said it would be ideal if Strauss-Kahn resigned, but the second said that sentiment was not shared across the 24-member board, which has the authority to remove him.
Strauss-Kahn is accused of trying to rape a maid who came to clean his luxury suite at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan on Saturday. His lawyer has said he will plead not guilty. If convicted, he could face 25 years in prison.
In the US, the IMF’s biggest shareholder, politicians began questioning the viability of his tenure as head of the institution charged with managing the world economy and central to negotiating debt crisis deals.
“I can’t comment on the case, but he is obviously not in a position to run the IMF,” US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner said.
John Lipsky, the second-in-command, is in charge during Strauss-Kahn’s absence, but no formal interim chief has been named. IMF sources said that David Lipton, the White House international economic adviser and a former deputy treasury secretary, would take Lipsky’s deputy position.
Strauss-Kahn’s arrest has thrown the IMF into turmoil just as it is helping eurozone states such as Greece and Portugal tackle debt woes.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry stopped short of calling for Strauss-Kahn’s resignation, but he called the circumstances of the case “troubling, if not damning.”
“If the evidence is what it appears to be, I think it would be very difficult for him to manage,” Kerry said.
In Europe, Strauss-Kahn was also losing support.
“Given the situation, that bail has been denied, he has to consider that he would otherwise do damage to the institution,” Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said.
Spanish Economy Minister Elena Salgado cast doubt on Strauss-Kahn’s judgment, but said it was his decision whether to resign.
“That is a decision which is up to Mr Strauss-Kahn to take, but the crimes he is accused of are very serious ... My solidarity first and foremost is with the woman who suffered the attack, if that was what happened,” she told reporters.
A European has held the post of managing director since the IMF was created in 1945, and four of them have been French.
However, emerging countries are starting to flex their muscle over who should succeed him.
China said on Tuesday the selection of the next IMF boss should be based on “fairness, transparency and merit.”
South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and a senior Brazilian government official, who asked not to be named, said the next chief should be from a developing country, pressing a case to give emerging economies a greater say in world affairs.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique