Sergei Chuzavkov / AP Photo
Days before the final round of France’s presidential election, former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has told The Guardian that the downfall of his reputation following his encounter with a New York City hotel maid was “shaped by those with a political agenda.” While he didn’t say the incident with Nafissatou Diallo was a setup, he believes that “more was involved here than mere coincidence.” He suggested that his internationally publicized criminal investigation and subsequent imprisonment were orchestrated by political enemies intent on sabotaging his chance of getting a presidential bid. Furthermore, he thinks the instigators had ties with current President Nicolas Sarkozy. “Perhaps I was politically naive, but I simply did not believe they would go that far … I didn’t think they could find anything that could stop me,” he said.