WASHINGTON — The race to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund stepped up Tuesday along with the pressure on him to resign to avoid undermining the IMF, a key force of global economic stability.
Some diplomats said a European country should no longer be guaranteed stewardship over a global economy increasingly driven by emerging powers in Asia and Latin America. The IMF board could move soon to oust Strauss-Kahn if he insists on remaining in his post while jailed on charges of trying to sexually assault a New York City hotel maid, analysts suggested.
Even if Strauss-Kahn is presumed innocent, the IMF will approach this crisis as ruthlessly as a company would, said Robert Bennett, the lawyer who represented President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky affair and Paul Wolfowitz before he resigned from the World Bank, the IMF’s sister institution, in 2007.
“They would say: ‘We’ll lose customers, the media will kill us, the women’s movement will go crazy, and whatever the claims he might have, we’ll look responsible if we get rid of this guy.’ “
But Bennett predicted the board would have to make financial concessions to induce Strauss-Kahn to quit.
Strauss-Kahn has said nothing about his future at the IMF. He was denied bail and is in a New York jail after his weekend arrest on charges of trying to sexually assault a maid in a Manhattan hotel. He is due to appear next in court Friday.
“From a perception standing, his resignation wouldn’t be a wise move,” said Edward Flaherty, a U.S. lawyer in Geneva who represented a woman who accused former Dutch prime minister and U.N. refugee chief Ruud Lubbers of sexual harassment in 2004. Lubbers later resigned from his U.N. post. “Legally, it has no bearing. But perception is very important in criminal cases.”
Among possible replacements for Strauss-Kahn are at least four fellow Europeans: French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde; the former head of the German central bank, Axel Weber; the head of Europe’s bailout fund, Klaus Regling; and Peer Steinbrueck, Germany’s former finance minister.
The questions over Strauss-Kahn’s future are laying bare long-standing complaints over the stewardship of the global agency. Developing countries have griped for years over a gentlemen’s agreement that has ensured a European head of the IMF and a U.S. head of the World Bank since their creation after World War II.
The IMF focuses on providing emergency loans and ensuring stability in the international financial system. The World Bank funds projects in developing countries.
