Christine Lagarde, I.M.F. Chief, Is Found Guilty of Negligence

[Drum]

Source: New York Times

PARIS — Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was found guilty on Monday of criminal charges linked to the misuse of public funds during her time as France’s finance minister, a verdict that could force her out of her post.

Ms. Lagarde, who began her second five-year term at the I.M.F. in February, will not face any jail time, the judge said. The scandal has overshadowed her work at the fund, to which she was appointed in 2011, after Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director when he was accused of having sexually assaulted a maid in a New York City hotel.

The move is likely to destabilize the I.M.F. as it faces a host of thorny issues, including questions over its participation in a multibillion-dollar bailout for Greece and uncertainty about the United States’ role in the organization once Donald J. Trump becomes president in January.

The verdict was a surprise, after the prosecutor in the trial said last week that the case against her was “very weak” and did not appear to be enough to win a conviction. It is a theme prosecutors have previously repeated.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/business/imf-trial-christine-lagarde-france-verdict.html

[tenorly]

1. Karma.

It's fitting in a way that she fall over a relatively minor flap like this.

She could never, after all, be held to account for the harm her doctrinaire austerity policies did to developing economies like Greece (where she's since admitted her mistakes - albeit after the harm was done) or Argentina (where IMF interference helped put a larcenous neocon - Macri - in power, and a growing economy has since been plunged into a deep recession by following the IMF playbook).

Perhaps she meant well. But the harm has nevertheless been done, if for nothing else because she refused to listen.

That was her true crime.

[Eugene]

2. Christine Lagarde avoids jail, keeps job after guilty verdict in negligence trial

Source: The Guardian

Christine Lagarde avoids jail, keeps job after guilty verdict in negligence trial

Judges opt not to give any punishment to head of International
Monetary Fund, who was given support of IMF board after the verdict

Kim Willsher , Larry Elliott and Dominic Rushe
Monday 19 December 2016 18.58 GMT

Christine Lagarde has been found guilty of negligence in approving a massive payout of taxpayers’ money to controversial French businessman Bernard Tapie but avoided a jail sentence.

A French court convicted the head of the International Monetary Fund and former government minister, who had faced a €15,000 (£12,600) fine and up to a year in prison. But it decided she should not be punished and that the conviction would not constitute a criminal record. On Monday evening the IMF gave her its full support.

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Within hours of the court’s decision, the IMF’s 24-member board convened a meeting to discuss Lagarde’s future. On Monday evening the IMF’s Washinton-based executive board gave Lagarde its full support.

“The executive board looks forward to continuing to work with the managing director to address the difficult challenges facing the global economy,” the board said in a statement.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/19/christine-lagarde-avoids-sentence-despite-guilty-verdict-in-negligence-trial