IMF chief charged with ‘negligence’

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde has been charged with “negligence” in a multi-million-euro corruption case relating to her tenure as French finance minister.

Lagarde released a statement on Wednesday, saying that the decision was “without basis.”

The statement added that she would go back to her work in Washington later in the day.

“After three years of proceedings, dozens of hours of questioning, the court found from the evidence that I committed no offense,” said Lagarde in the statement.

When asked whether she intended to resign as the IMF chief, Lagarde responded, “No.” But her fate now depends on what the IMF board of directors would decide.

The announcement came a day after a fourth round of questioning before French magistrates. Lagarde was grilled for more than 15 hours by a special court in Paris that probes ministerial misconduct.

Under French law, the official investigation is equivalent to preliminary charges, meaning there is reason to suspect an infraction. Investigating judges can later drop a case or issue formal charges and send it to trial.

The case relates to her handling of a 400-million-euro ($527-million) state payout to disgraced French tycoon Bernard Tapie in 2008, which investigating judges suspect may have been doled out in return for his support of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 election.

The IMF chief has constantly denied having acted on the former president’s orders.

Lagarde is the third IMF managing director in a decade to face legal troubles. Lagarde replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as IMF chief in 2011 after he became embroiled in a New York sex scandal involving a hotel maid.

RSR/AB