------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMF board set
to meet shortly
WASHINGTON / PTI
The International Monetary Fund board is expected to meet shortly to discuss the implications of the surprise guilty verdict against IMF chief Christine Lagarde in a French court.
“The Executive Board has met on previous occasions to consider developments related to the legal proceedings in France. It is expected that the Board will meet again shortly to consider the most recent developments,” fund spokesman Gerry Rice said in a statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUILTY BUT WON'T BE PUNISHED
* Lagarde found guilty of negligence over a massive payout to a tycoon when she was finance minister
* But the International Monetary Fund boss will not be fined or face prison
* Lagarde was not in the Paris court to hear the decision because she is in Washington
* The 60-year-old was tried by a tribunal staffed by judges and members of parliament
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A French court on Monday found IMF head Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence over a massive state payout to a tycoon when she was French 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 ($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 said 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 ever 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.
Maisonneuve welcomed the absence of a punishment but said he "would have preferred that she be simply cleared".
Lagarde was put on trial over her 2007 decision to allow the 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 then failing to challenge the result.
The court cleared her of negligence over her decision to refer the matter to arbitration but upheld the charge over her failure to contest the award.
Lagarde told the court last week she had acted in good faith and that her sole aim had been "to defend the general interest".
The Court of Justice of the Republic, which is staffed by judges and members of parliament, hears cases against ministers accused of wrongdoing in office.
The punishment for negligence theoretically carries a one-year prison sentence and a 15,000-euro fine.
