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IMF's Lagarde keeps job, escapes penalty after negligence conviction in France

20 December 2016 01:23 (UTC +04:00)

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde kept her job and escaped punishment on Monday despite a conviction on negligence charges by French judges over a state payout made while she served as France's finance minister in 2008, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The Washington-based IMF executive board reaffirmed its full confidence in Lagarde's abilities to perform her duties leading the Fund, hours after the verdict was issued in Paris.

"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.

In Monday's ruling, the judges did not find negligence in Lagarde's decision to seek an out-of-court settlement with tycoon Bernard Tapie. But they said her failure to contest the award to him of about 400 million euros ($417 million) was negligent and led to a misuse of public funds.

"The context of the global financial crisis in which Madame Lagarde found herself in should be taken into account," Martine Ract Madoux, the main judge on the case, said in explaining the absence of any sentence.