Sexual assault: Ex-IMF boss Strauss-Khan in $6m deal with maid

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has reached a preliminary agreement with the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault last year to settle a civil lawsuit she brought against him, sources familiar with the case said.

While a source in New York cautioned that the agreement could still fall apart, influential French daily Le Monde reported, citing people close to Strauss-Kahn, that the parties had agreed on a payment of $6 million to settle the case – an element dismissed by Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers as “fanciful”.

Le Monde said 63-year-old Strauss-Kahn and the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, would meet a judge in New York on 7 December to sign the deal and close an affair that ended the Frenchman’s IMF career and wrecked his presidential ambitions.

“The discussions have been going on for weeks, months. The agreement should be confirmed at the start of next week,” Michele Saban, a friend of Strauss-Kahn who saw him recently, told Reuters in Paris. She could not confirm the sum involved.

“We are moving towards the end of a tragedy,” she said, adding that Diallo had always been open to negotiating a settlement despite reticence from her lawyers.

Le Monde reported that Strauss-Kahn planned to take out a bank loan for $3 million and would be lent the other $3 million by his wife Anne Sinclair, despite the fact the couple separated in the summer and now live on different sides of Paris.infrastructural development, the Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office would not find it expedient to have the input of the MDAs that actually know what they needed before being given whatever they feel.

“It is disheartening to hear from one agency to the other that they have no input in the final budget proposal sent tot the National Assembly by Mr. President.

“The Ministry of Finance should not just give a blanket amount to MDAs telling them to spend it anyhow they can. If they spend the money given to them anyhow they can, won’t they be violating the Appropriation Act if they really want to meet their needs with the inconsiderate envelope thrown at them by the Presidency?”

Chairman, Committee on Integration in Africa, Abubakar Momoh wanted to know what N60m security vote for 2013 for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was meant for.

He queried the Special Assistant to the President on NEPAD Dr. Tunji Olagunju of what use was the security vote and another for teaching aid and laboratory.

“We are aware that NEPAD has no security issue to address on its own and one just wonder what use would teaching aids and laboratories be for the agency.

“It is the opinion of this Committee that the envelope system is retrogressive and it showed that they were not carried along in the preparation of the budget.

“The MDAs should be involved in the planning of the budget and that is the only through which they can be effective”. He said.

Lawmakers have been alerted on the need to restructure the budget template and scrutinize various subheadings in order to decipher double entries as well as unnecessary inputs.

This is also slowing down the budget consideration.

The Deputy Chairman, House a committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor Ogene at a briefing on Thursday had expressed optimism that the House would conclude work on the budget before the end of December.

This is against the background of the suspension of plenary by the House till December 11 so as to allow concentration on the 2013 budget consideration.

However, the optimism of the lawmaker if held to the candle may not support the existing reality on the ground.

The House for the past two years had extended the fiscal year into the first quarter of the incoming year on the premise that it would allow for the completion of the Capital project not completed during the year.

But the usual excuse that the Executive had always brought in the budget late would no longer be tenable this year as President Goodluck Jonathan submitted the budget before the National Assembly in good time.

It was initially believed that the early submission of the 2013 budget proposals would eventually culminate in the early passage of the appropriation bill.

However, as December creeps in, it is increasingly becoming evident that unless the House wants to do a quick fix to the estimates or wave a magical legislative wand, the 2013 budget may not be ready this year.