Former IMF chief Strauss-Kahn in Juba to Open Bank

{{Disgraced former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrived in South Sudan on Monday to open a new bank, marking a rare return to the financial world since his career was derailed by a lurid sex scandal two years ago.}}

Speaking to reporters at the start of his two-day visit, Strauss-Kahn said he planned to open the National Credit Bank (NCB), as well as explore investment opportunities in the new nation.

Few details have been made public about the NCB bank. However, officials said the Swiss-backed private venture was being launched in cooperation with South Sudanese partners.

Straus-Kahn was greeted by South Sudan’s minister of commerce, Garang Diing, following his arrival in Juba.

“This visit is very important to us … especially in relation to investment attraction to South Sudan,” Diing told Press.

“He (Straus-Kahn) wants to see how South Sudan is prospering in terms of peace, stability, democracy and economic performance,” he added.

The one-time French presidential hopeful and former IMF boss suffered a spectacular downfall after a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in May 2011.

Strauss-Kahn, who has always insisted his sexual relations with the maid were consensual, was forced to resign his post in the wake of the scandal; in which allegations surfaced he was also criminally involved in a France-based prostitution ring.

In August 2011, prosecutors dropped all criminal charges, saying that the alleged victim, Nafissatou Diallo, was not a credible witness.

Strauss-Kahn quickly returned to France and later settled a civil suit filed by Diallo for an undisclosed sum.

In an extensive interview with France’s weekly Le Point magazine last October, Strauss-Kahn, who now works as a freelance financial consultant, said he was “looking at getting involved in big international projects”.

Although rich in natural resources, South Sudan remains grossly under-developed since splitting from the north in July 2011, with vast sections of the population still living beneath the poverty line.

{ST}