France's Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Thursday as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but maintained he was innocent of the sexual assault charges against him.
'It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF', he said in a statement.
'I think at this time first of my wife - whom I love more than anything - of my children, of my family, of my friends.
'I think also of my colleagues at the Fund; together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.
'To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.
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'I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially - especially - I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence', the statement read.
'I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me' the statement added.
Strauss-Kahn, a leading French politician, is jailed in New York awaiting a grand jury decision on whether to indict him on charges of the alleged sexual assault and attempted rape of a 32-year-old Manhattan hotel chambermaid.
