Disgraced ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn joins Ukraine bank

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn leaves his hotel on February 11, 2015 in Lille, northern France, to attend his trial at the courthouse. AFP PHOTO | PHILIPPE HUGUEN

Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been appointed to the supervisory board of a bank owned by Ukraine's second-richest businessman Viktor Pinchuk.

Kiev's Kredit-Dnipro Bank said the decision to accept Strauss-Kahn and five others to the advisory body was taken on Monday and goes into immediate effect.

It added that Strauss-Kahn would serve as an independent committee member who does not represent shareholders' interests.

Pinchuk is the son-in-law of former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma and is believed to have holdings worth $1.43 billion (1.29 billion euros), according to Forbes magazine.

Strauss-Kahn led the International Monetary Fund from 2007 until his forced 2011 resignation over rape charges in a New York hotel.

The scandal derailed the Frenchman's presidential ambitions even though it was later dismissed in court.

Straus-Kahn made one of his first post-resignation public appearances in Kiev when he spoke to students on the personal invitation of Pinchuk.