When Christine Lagarde stood before the Court of Justice of the Republic last week to defend herself against charges of criminal negligence in her handling of a long-running fraud case in France, the head of the IMF concluded:
‘I have acted in conscience, in confidence and guided by the general interest.’
But today, the court decided otherwise and announced a guilty verdict. The 60-year-old need not worry about going to prison or even paying a fine – and she won’t even receive a criminal record. Yet nonetheless the verdict is a serious blow for Lagarde, and the IMF. After all, Lagarde was supposed to be the much-needed steady pair of hands appointed to take charge of the organisation in 2011 – just what was needed to restore their dented credibility in the wake of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal.
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