IMF chief guilty, but escapes punishment
Print Edition
A French court yesterday found IMF head Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence over a massive state payout to a tycoon when she was the country’s finance minister but spared her a fine or prison sentence.
The Court of Justice of the Republic found against Lagarde over her handling of a dispute between the state and flamboyant businessman Bernard Tapie, which ended in a 404-million-euro (US$422 million) award for Tapie.
In a blow to her otherwise stellar career, the court rapped Lagarde for failing to contest the massive payment. Crucially, however, the Paris court exempted her from any penalty.
It was not clear what impact the finding will have on her position at the International Monetary Fund, which has so far given Lagarde its full backing.
The IMF board was to meet in Washington in the wake of the court’s decision.
The 60-year-old former corporate lawyer, who was the first female finance minister of a Group of Eight country before becoming IMF chief in 2011, was not in court for the ruling.
Her lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve told reporters she was in Washington. He welcomed the absence of a punishment but “would have preferred that she be simply cleared.”
Lagarde had gone on trial over allowing a dispute over Tapie’s sale of the adidas sports brand to the state-owned Credit Lyonnais bank to be resolved by a private arbitration panel, and failing to challenge the result.
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