premise: Together with the outgoing vice-president, Wall Street banker Ron Freeman, de Larosiere was able to repair the damage from a scandal which, in 1993, forced the resignation of the EBRD's first president, Jacques Attali, criticized for his lavish spending.
  Under the Frenchman's presidency, the bank, set up in 1991 to assist the transition to a market economy in the former Communist states of Europe, has frozen its operating costs for the past three years.
  At the same time, in collaboration with Freeman, who has worked doggedly to ensure the bank's money goes only to projects which meet sound banking principles, de Larosiere has massively expanded its portfolio of loans and equity investments.
  The succession of these two top posts is the main uncertainty hanging over the future of this multilateral institution, which has become an essential partner for the private sector in the former Communist states of eastern and central Europe and the ex-Soviet Union.
  On Monday, the United States praised the two men, and underlined the importance of finding a good successor to Freeman, who announced last week he would step down in June to return to his old employer, Salomon Brothers.
   Why was Jacques Attali criticized?
hypothesis: the damage from a scandal