Lagarde to remain as IMF chief despite conviction

Christine Lagarde waits at a special court in Paris, on Dec.12, 2016. (Francois Mori / AP)

WASHINGTON -- 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 quickly met after the court's decision and expressed "full confidence" in Lagarde's ability to carry out her duties at the head of the Washington-based international lending agency. In a statement, the board cited her "outstanding leadership" and the respect and trust she has worldwide.

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.

"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.

Lagarde, a lawyer, became France's first female finance minister in 2007, overseeing the country's response to the financial crisis that rocked the global economy from 2008. She is also the first woman to head the IMF.

The troubling verdict comes as the IMF is weighing its role in multiple global crises, including a bailout for Greece.

"She is a strong leader," U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement after the board's decision. "And we have every confidence in her ability to guide the fund at a critical time for the global economy."

The Court of Justice of the Republic is a special tribunal to hear cases of alleged criminality by ministers in office and is made up of three judges and 12 parliamentarians. It ruled that Lagarde's negligence in her management of a long-running arbitration case involving tycoon Bernard Tapie helped open the door for the fraudulent misappropriation of public funds. Lagarde herself was not accused of fraud.

The case revolves around a 403 million-euro ($425 million) arbitration award given to Tapie in 2008 over the botched sale of sportswear giant Adidas in the 1990s. Civil courts have since quashed the unusually generous award, declared the arbitration process and deal fraudulent and ordered Tapie to refund the money.

The special court's presiding judge, in reading the verdict, said Lagarde should have asked her aides and others for more information about the "shocking arbitration award," which included a tax-free payment of 45 million euros in damages to Tapie, which the court described as fraudulent.

Had Lagarde contested the award, an appeal against it might have succeeded and would have strengthened the negotiating position of those who were fighting Tapie's demands for compensation over the sale of his majority stake in Adidas, the court ruled.

In deciding not to sentence Lagarde, the court noted that the award to Tapie has since been annulled, sparing damage to the public purse. It also noted that Lagarde was busy at the time with the global economic crisis.

Lagarde's "personality and national and international reputation" also counted in her favour in the decision not to punish her, the court ruled.

Lagarde, who was not present for the verdict, maintained her innocence through the trial. The prosecutor had asked for an acquittal in the case, which began in 2011.

The special court acquitted Lagarde of negligence in her original decision to put the Tapie case to arbitration. But it found her guilty in a subsequent decision not to contest the amount of the arbitration award.

The legal battle between Tapie and Credit Lyonnais over the public bank's sale of his Adidas stake was still unresolved when Lagarde took over at the Finance Ministry in 2007.

Lagarde ordered that the dispute be settled through a private arbitration panel, instead of regular courts -- against the advice of her own services. The massive award raised questions about whether Tapie benefited from his political connections, including with then-President Nicolas Sarkozy, Lagarde's boss when she was his finance minister.

Soon after the award, investigators suspected the whole process was rigged in favour of the magnate.

In 2013, Tapie, his lawyer, one of the arbitrators and Lagarde's chief of staff at the ministry, Stephane Richard, now the CEO of the telecom company Orange, were charged with gang-related fraud. Lagarde's Paris home was searched by police. However, that case is separate from Lagarde's legal woes.

Tapie was handed another charge of misappropriation of funds. But in 2015, a court quashed the arbitration deal and ordered Tapie to repay the money. Last June, the top French court ruled that the arbitration was fraudulent.

Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman reported this story in Washington and AP writer John Leicester reported from Paris. AP writers Elaine Ganley in Paris and Marcy Gordon in Washington contributed to this report.