MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Christine Lagarde guilty, yet unpunished
IMF chief Christine Lagarde found guilty by French court under mitigating circumstances A French court on Monday found International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence for her doings as finance minister in 2008, when she failed to challenge a state arbitration payout to a business tycoon in.
Lagarde was imposed no penalty. “The context of the global financial crisis in which Madame Lagarde found herself in should be taken into account,” according to the court's chief justice Martine Ract Madoux. Lagarde's good international reputation and standing were also reasons for not handing down a punishing sentence which could have been of up to a year in prison.
The judges did not see negligence in Lagarde's decision to seek an out-of-court settlement with businessman Bernard Tapie, but they said her failure to contest the award to him of 400 million euros ($417 million) was negligent, and led to a misuse of public funds.
Lagarde's lawyer said immediately after the ruling that his team would look into appealing the decision.
The ruling risks triggering a new leadership crisis at the International Monetary Fund after Lagarde's predecessor Dominique Strauss Khan resigned in 2011 over a sex assault scandal. The Washington-based institution's executive board was expected to meet shortly to consider the implications of the verdict, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said.
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Read all commentsThe IMF is not an instrument of financial imperialism but rather the embodiment of fiscal incompetence.
Dec 20th, 2016 - 04:26 pm 0These figureheads are mental midgets of Lilliputian proportion.
France has said they continue to support her.
Dec 20th, 2016 - 07:37 pm 0Well, she is a woman and they will be frightened of being accused of misogyny or some other 'ogyny'.
I bet she has an 'ology' as well!
She also has a husband who goes out in pink tights and wears a fur around his neck, no wonder the poor women looks like a shriveled up prune.
@ ChrisR
Dec 20th, 2016 - 08:26 pm 0Wrong, she's divorced and with some other guy, so who is it who goes out in pink tights? Pics please!
And why would France want to rock the boat when they have one of their citizens heading up the IMF?
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