Politicians claim case is harming the global lending body, as defence prepares to argue sexual contact was consensual
Pressure is building for Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund, with European finance ministers asking if he can carry on in the light of his arrest.
Strauss-Kahn is being held in isolation at the notorious Rikers Island penal complex in New York, having been refused bail after denying charges of a brutal sexual assault on a 32-year-old chambermaid. His lawyers are expected to reapply for bail at a hearing on Friday; one New York tabloid reported they might be preparing to argue that sexual contact was consensual.
A grand jury is in private meetings to assess whether the evidence is strong enough for a case to proceed over the alleged attack in a luxury Manhatten hotel suite. The jurors will announce their decision on Friday.
But European finance ministers called for Strauss-Kahn to quit his position as head of the global lending body. The Austrian finance minister, Maria Fekter, said he was damaging the IMF, "Considering the situation, that bail was denied, he has to figure out for himself, that he is hurting the institution," she told journalists as she arrived at a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels.
Her Spanish counterpart, Elana Salgado, said the alleged offences were "extraordinarily serious" and Strauss-Kahn needed to decide for himself if he should step down. "If I had to show my solidarity and support for someone, it would be toward the woman who has been assaulted, if that is really the case that she has been," she said.
Other European officials were more supportive. "I'm very sad and upset. And he's a good friend of mine," the Luxembourg prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, said. "I didn't like the pictures I've seen on television," he added of footage showing Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs escorted by police outside a New York police station.
Strauss-Kahn, who had been tipped to win the French presidency as the Socialist candidate next year, is accused of brutally sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a maid at the Sofitel hotel on Saturday 14 May after she entered his room to clean. He was detained by police hours later as he sat in the first class cabin of an Air France flight about to take off for Paris at John F Kennedy airport. He had been due to host meetings about Europe's debt crisis.
The New York Post reported that his lawyer, Benjamin Branfman, might be preparing to argue that sexual contact was consensual. The paper quoted a source close to the defence team saying: "There may well have been consent." Brafman told a New York court on Monday that forensic evidence taken by police from his client over the weekend "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter".
The brother of the alleged victim, who has not been named, told the Daily Mail that his sister called him an hour after the alleged incident and said: "Somebody has done something really bad to me." She was crying uncontrollably, he said, and told him Strauss-Kahn twice tried to force himself on her. "No family should have to go through this," the brother said. "She is a hard-working woman who is just a victim. She is a wonderful West African immigrant who just wants to work hard."
Le Monde reported that Strauss-Kahn's third wife, Anne Sinclair, had got a call from her husband as he was travelling to the airport. He mentioned a "serious problem" but made no allusion to a hotel attack. Strauss-Kahn was denied bail on Monday at a court appearance where prosecutors successfully argued he was a flight risk.
Strauss-Kahn's former wife, Brigitte Guillemette, defended him in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper. He is believed to have to met their daughter Camille, a PhD student at Columbia University, after the alleged attack. Guillemette said: "I don't think I've ever seen him lock a door. He's someone who is gentle. Violence is not part of his temperament. He has many faults, but not that one. Can you imagine that a father could do what they accuse him of, and then go for lunch with his daughter a few minutes later? It makes no sense. It's unthinkable and impossible," she said.
The French writer Tristane Banon is considering filing a police complaint for attempted rape against Strauss-Kahn over an alleged attack in 2002.
The IMF board met on Monday to discuss the crisis but made no announcement. The institution is refusing to comment on the case, but confirmed that Strauss-Kahn does not have diplomatic immunity from prosecution. Among those being mentioned as possible successors to Strauss-Kahn are Gordon Brown, French finance minister Christine Lagarde, Kemal Dervis, a Trukish former finance minister now at the US Brookings Institution, and Mohammad El-Erian, an Egyptian award-winning author who heads the Pimco bond fund anda former IMF staffer. China's top official at the IMF, Zhu Min, is also a potential deputy managing director.
The case has rocked the financial world as the IMF grapples with the European debt crisis. The institution has led the bailouts of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, and Strauss-Kahn has been one of the bailout packages' greatest supporters. After his arrest the IMF's second-in-command, John Lipsky, was named acting managing director.
France's Socialist party met for emergency talks about its forthcoming primary race for a candidate to run against nicolas Sarkozy next year, with Strauss-Kahn out of the picture. "There was emotion, of course, and the shock we all feel, but it is our responsibility to be up to the task," said party leader Martine Aubry.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/17/imf-chief-dominique-strauss-kahn-resign
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