The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday that it would stand by its managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, despite concluding that he had shown poor judgment in a sexual affair with a subordinate. After receiving a report from an outside law firm, the executive board of the fund said there was no evidence Strauss-Kahn had abused his power or shown favouritism in his brief relationship with a senior official at the fund, who later resigned to take a job in London. Still, the longest-serving member of the board, A Shakour Shaalan, described the affair as a ?serious error of judgment? on the part of Strauss-Kahn, 59, a former French finance minister who took charge last year and is steering the fund through the most serious global financial crisis in decades. Strauss-Kahn stated, ?I am grateful that the board has confirmed that there was no abuse of authority on my part, but I accept that this incident represents a serious error of judgment.?