As
IMF
Chief Strauss-Kahn Is Arrested, Denials of Rule-breaking
Recalled, Immunity & Air France Arrangement Questioned
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 15 -- With Dominique
Strauss-Kahn of the International
Monetary Fund having been
detained and then this morning arrested
for sexual assault allegedly
committed in the Sofitel near Times Square, attention has turned
to
the IMF's failure to discipline him for what its Executive Board
called a “serious lapse of judgment” in 2008.
In
this case, IMF
spokesman William Murray has been quoted that the IMF “has not
immediate comment” on the arrest or charges.
IMF
staff, too,
have been defensive about Strauss-Kahn and his compliance with rules.
Inner City Press covers the IMF as well as the wider United Nations,
and on March 17 Inner City Press asked the IMF to respond to what
sources described as a pattern in which “DSK gets friends and
family hired by IMF affiliates.”
At
that time, the
IMF answer other of Inner City Press' questions, while ignoring this
one. Two weeks later, Inner City Press asked:
Sent:
Thursday,
March 31, 2011 9:58:14 AM
To: IMF, Media Briefing Center
Again,
Please state whether Dominique Strauss Kahn has any relatives working
in the World Bank or other UN affiliated organizations, and if so why
this does not run afoul of anti nepotism rules and principles? From:
Matthew Russell Lee Media Outlet: Inner City Press
This
time, the
question drew a quick answer, albeit a dismissive one, from Mr.
Murray:
From:
Murray,
William [at] mf.org
Date: Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 10:22
AM
Subject: FW: Question Received (3/31/2011 9:58:14 AM)
To:
Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Matthew,
He
has
no relatives on the staff of the IMF. Given the premise of your
question, let me note that the Bank and UN are wholly separate
institutions from the IMF, with no fiscal or managerial connections.
At the IMF we certainly have nepotism rules, and they have not been
violated in any way.
But
does the IMF
have rules, that they require not be violated?
It's
now
reported
that Strauss-Kahn “has an arrangement with Air France
that allows him to get on any flight and sit in first class.” What
kind of arrangement is that? Who paid for it, and how much did they
pay? Inner City Press has asked three spokespeople of the IMF,
including Mr. Murray. Watch this site.
Strauss-Kahn with Ben Ali of Tunisia: one fell, now
will the other?
Footnote:
Inner City Press has been asked how, if Strauss-Kahn as an IMF official
has a form of immunity, he could be detained, questioned and arrested
by the New York Police Department. (The IMF has a history of citing
immunity, for example for Paul Ross in Pakistan, click here.)
Earlier this
year, Inner City Press (un) covered
the case of a French diplomat who was arrested for attempted purchase
of cocaine and resisting arrest, but was later allowed to flee the
country before trial.
The practice
is to allow one such flight - but the person is not supposed to
re-enter the United States -- which, in the cocaine case, has in fact
happened, which neither the French government nor US State Department
have yet explained, click here.
Watch this site.
* * *
IMF
Promotes
Bank
Mergers,
Says Bigger is Better, Politics &
Portugal Dodged
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
WASHINGTON
DC,
April
15
-- The International
Monetary
Fund is unabashedly
promoting the takeover of small banks by large ones, claiming that
its own work in “Emerging Europe” since the financial meltdown
shows that communities are better served by large banks, even if
based far away or in other countries.
IMF
European
Department Director Antonio Borges told reporters on Friday that
Belgium was smart to have pushed Fortis to being acquired by BNP
Paribas. He urged more such mergers.
Inner
City
Press
asked
Borges if the IMF proposed any safeguards at all, given that
concerns exist that when a local bank is acquired by one based far
away, there will be less reinvestment and accountability.
Borges,
while
calling
this
an “interesting question,” bragged that the IMF
organized a coordinated effort to get large banks to treat
communities, particularly in Emerging Europe, fairly, and that this
had worked. See IMF
transcript, below.
Borges, invisible hand and safeguards on mergers not shown
Inner
City
Press
began
to ask about attempts to encourage or require reinvestment, for
example in the UK -- but moderator Simonetta Nardin said there was no
time for follow up questions.
Meanwhile,
Borges
took
but
refused to answer two questions about Portugal, citing an
IMF policy against officials working on their own countries, and also
claiming that the IMF does not get involved in politics. What --
encouraging bank mergers is not political? Watch this site.
From the IMF's
transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
you seem to be saying that bank mergers—small banks
being bought by big ones sort of unqualifiedly may be a good thing.
In some countries people think that local banks are more accountable,
that if you move the assets to a faraway headquarters that there's
less responsive. What do you say to that critique and is that
something that the IMF takes any account of?
MR.
BORGES:
you
ask a very interesting question, because this is a
problem we were faced with over the last few years. In many of the
countries of emerging Europe, you find banks that actually are owned
by other banks elsewhere and there were concerns that, as there might
be problems in the domestic countries of those banks that assets
would be pulled out from emerging Europe and they might suffer. And
the Fund, the IMF, invested quite a bit of effort to organize a
coordinated effort on the part of all these banks to behave in the
best possible interests of those economies, and I must say this was
quite successful, because as a result, these countries are now
recovering very well and their banks are operating well. So, if
anything, the experience of emerging Europe demonstrates that having
large, solid banks operate in your country may be an important source
of stability if things are properly managed.
, 
