Christine Lagarde will remain as IMF chief despite negligence conviction

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Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), delivers a statement at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC, on Monday after being convicted of negligence by a French court. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 12:22pm, 20 Dec 2016Updated: 10:54pm, 20 Dec 2016

Christine Lagarde will remain head of the International Monetary Fund despite her conviction Monday of negligence in a case dating to her tenure as France’s finance minister.

The IMF’s executive board said it had “full confidence” in Lagarde’s ability to carry out her duties at the head of the Washington-based international lending agency.

After a weeklong trial, France’s Court of Justice of the Republic found Lagarde guilty of one count of negligence but spared her jail time and a criminal record.

The 60-year-old IMF leader had potentially faced a year of imprisonment and a fine for not seeking to block a fraudulent 2008 arbitration award to a politically connected tycoon when she was finance minister.

Lagarde thanked the board for the vote of confidence “in my ability to do my job.” She said she would not appeal the French court’s decision.

Patrick Maisonneuve, a lawyer, speaks to the media outside the courtroom at Cour de Justice de la Republique following the conviction of Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a negligence case in Paris on Monday. Photo: Bloomberg

“I am not satisfied with it, but there’s a point in time when one must stop, turn the page and move on,” she said.