SOYMB came across this strong indictment of "justice"The case of the alleged rape of a New York hotel worker, Nafissatou Diallo from Guinea, by former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn was decided from the beginning because DSK has the money, connections and prestige to steamroll the investigation.
There came the revelation that she lied on her immigration application that she was gang-raped back home in Guinea. It is not uncommon for immigrants to say just about anything to ensure that they gain a toe-hold in the new country. If today a machine was invented to detect improbable stories immigrants tell to gain immigration in the West, hundreds of millions of people would be forced to return to their country of origin. Essentially, in a very lop-sided world where the poor have to live by their wits, story-telling to find opportunity in developed metropolis is not really a big issue unless you are in a position similar to Diallo’s where your credibility is on the line.
There is also the issue of Diallo’s association with a convicted felon in a US federal penitentiary. As an African immigrant eking a paltry living on the mean streets of New York, Diallo was more likely to know two or three people who have run afoul of the law. That, however, does not mean she herself was and is a woman of base character, a cheat, a liar and conniver. It simply means that she is an immigrant whose experience is not all that unique in a place where immigrants support each other, and do not abandon even those in jail.
DSK is a powerful man who all his life lived within a certain privileged circle of prestige and power. The IMF chief, was the godfather of an organisation that decides how much money is doled out to poor nations like Guinea. He knows a long list of people who owe him favours. With his wealthy wife’s multi-million dollar fortune at his disposal, DSK went to work. First, the couple hired Benjamin “Ben” Brafman, the very best defence lawyer money could buy. Brafman went to work to dig out all the dirt on Diallo by hiring the private detective firm Guidepost Solutions Detective Agency. In short time, Diallo’s life was like that of a fish in a glass bowl for everyone to see. The DSK team uncovered that Diallo fabricated the story of her rape in Guinea. The team also acquired information that showed that she spoke to a convicted felon in a US jail, citing the transcript of the exact conversation. The team also uncovered that the teenage child Diallo claimed was her daughter was in fact someone else’s daughter. Diallo, not DSK, is now on trial. Make the case disappear by turning the power of doubt on her (this is probably true of allegations of rape the world over where the accusers are vulnerable women against men). Diallo will likely never see her day in court. She will quietly vanish into thin air. An immigration hearing will be started to deport her back to her native Guinea. She will likely die poor. Her sole claim to fame being that allegation she brought against a powerful world leader.
The world leader meanwhile will move on as well. His life in politics will likely grow brighter again, and he might even rise to become the leader of the Republic of France. Whatever happened in Suite 2806 at the Sofitel Hotel, whether DSK forced himself or not on a poor African immigrant woman working as a hotel cleaner in New York will be a mere footnote in his career.
There is nothing to suggest Diallo was not telling the truth when she said she was forced by DSK to commit some very indecent sexual acts. Something did happen in that hotel room, and it is possible that the 32-year-old woman was a victim.
That is what being rich and being poor means.
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