UNITED
NATIONS, May
23 -- When the
International
Monetary Fund
held its
biweekly
embargoed
press briefing
on Thursday
morning, its
managing
director
Christine
Lagarde was
being grilled
in the Court
of Justice
of the
Republic, set
up to judge
France’s
government
ministers.
At
issue are
Lagarde's
actions while
Finance
Minister in
payouts to
Sarkozy
supporter
Bernard Tapie,
who sold
Adidas to
Credit
Lyonnais
then got
arbitration
under Lagarde.
At
the IMF
briefing,
Lagarde's
spokesperson
Gerry Rice was
peppered with
questions: how
much was the
IMF board
briefed about
Lagarde's
legal
situation when
she got the
job, replacing
Dominque
Strauss Kahn
after
the hotel rape
charges
against him?
How much has
the IMF board
since
been briefed?
Rice
barely
answered these
or other
submitted
questions. He
said, I'm
moving on from
this issue. Of
the questions
Inner City
Press
submitted, one
was partial
answered: the
proposed
Tunisia
stand-by
arrangement
will go before
the IMF board
on June 7.
But
what of
concerns
raised in
National
Constituent
Assembly about
IMF
program and
what some call
the
anti-sovereignty
conditions
imposed by
the IMF?
On
the
indigenous,
what is IMF's
participation
in this week's
UN
Permanent
Forum on
Indigenous
Issues? If you
can, compare
to the
World Bank.
What
safeguards if
any does IMF
have regarding
the rights
of indigenous
peoples?
On
the Democratic
Republic of
Congo, what is
the IMF's
position and
next
steps on the
previous $550
million
program, now
that Gecamines
affidavit has
been filed?
World
Bank president
Jim Kim, along
with UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, is on
the DRC, not
only Kinshasa
but
also Goma
(where Ban
pledged help
to the
"Congolians").
That will be
our next
story. Watch
this site.
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