Strauss-Kahn to be economic adviser for Serbia
Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in May.(Photo: Ali Ngethi, AFP/Getty Images)
Story Highlights
- Former IMF chief Dominique Stauss-Kahn will serve as an economic adviser to Serbia
- He faces pimping charges in France and was charged with sexually assaulting a maid in a New York hotel
- The N.Y. charges were dropped because of doubts about the maid's credibility
Former International Monetary Fund chief and French presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who faces aggravated pimping charges in France, will serve as an economic adviser for the Balkan country's top officials, Serbia's deputy prime minister said.
Aleksandar Vucic told state television late Thursday that Strauss-Kahn will advise him and Serbia's prime minister and finance minister on restructuring the country's large foreign debt.
Vucic asserted that the charges against Strauss-Kahn did not tarnish his reputation as a financial expert. He said he is expected to be in Belgrade within a week.
The length of Strauss-Kahn's appointment and his remuneration were not disclosed.
The 64-year-old economist "will help Serbia to re-program its debts," Vucic said.
"Big (painter) Picasso treated women and children very badly, while some other people, like Hitler, loved women," said Vucic, who is considered the most powerful Serbian politician. "If you are going to judge people like that, then you could judge Strauss-Kahn badly."
The French case revolves around an alleged hotel prostitution ring and hinges on whether Strauss-Kahn knew he was partying with prostitutes and whose money was used to pay them. His lawyers have said Strauss-Kahn had attended "libertine" gatherings but did not know that some women there were paid.
No trial date has been set for Strauss-Khan and 13 other people in France, a country where it is not illegal to pay for sex, but it is against the law to solicit or to run a prostitution business.
That was the latest in a series of investigations into Strauss-Kahn since his arrest in New York in May 2011 where he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. Those charges were eventually dropped because of doubts over the maid's credibility after she was found to have lied on her immigration claim. But there were reports that Strauss-Kahn was later forced to pay her substantial damages.
He resigned as IMF chief before those charges were dropped.
Another case against the former French finance minister have also been dropped. An allegation of sexual assult in Paris in 2003 did not result in criminal charges because it had passed the legal time limit. In October last year, French prosecutors decided to drop an inquiry into allegations of gang rape at a hotel in Washington after one of the women involved who had made the claim retracted her evidence
Contributing: Associated Press