New York (AsiaNews) - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Director General of the International Monetary Fund, is under house arrest in a Manhattan apartment (near Ground Zero) under armed surveillance. In addition, he is wearing an ankle bracelet that electronically tracks his every move. Meanwhile, doubts are increasing about his arrest and the IMF promises the appointment of his successor "by June 30".
The Member States of the Fund yesterday agreed the selection procedure for the new general manager. As of Monday the Board of Directors, composed of representatives from 24 countries and country groups, will begin the process of considering applications with a June 10th deadline. If there are four or more candidates, the Board will seek to appoint a new director "by consensus", failing that by a vote to reduce the list to three names. This procedure, however, does not satisfy representatives of the developing world economies.
Traditionally, the Fund is managed by a European, the World Bank by an American. But India and China over the past decade have established themselves as "driving force" economies of international finance and have no intention to be bound by this state of affairs. Thursday, the representative of India to the IMF Board Arvind Virmani said he hoped for a more "democratic" vote. China instead openly put forward its own ccandidate Zhou Min, a former special adviser to Strauss-Khan.
Meanwhile, there are increasing doubts about the arrest of the former director accused of sexual assault. Beyond "technical" inconsistencies in the charges, some analysts wonder if behind the arrest (and the global media campaign that it gave rise to) there is a conspiracy aimed at stopping the French man, who on 2 February had openly declared his desire to "untie global finance" from the dollar as reference currency. This move, if implemented, would have serious consequences on the U.S. economy already exhausted after the international financial crisis caused by U.S. debt.