IMF boss Christine Lagarde found guilty of negligence, avoids sentence

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde was on Monday found guilty of negligence in approving a pay out of taxpayers' cash to disgraced businessman Bernard Tapie, but avoided a jail term.

Lagarde faced a possible 15,000 euro fine and up to one year in prison.

Lagarde approved a massive state payout to businessman Tapie, who has previously been jailed on corruption charges. In 2007 Lagarde sent a dispute between Adidas owner Tapie and lender Crédit Lyonnais to a three-person private arbitration authority, which ruled that the businessman was owed more than 400m euros from the state.

Tapie was ordered to repay the money the last year after almost a decade of legal wrangling resulting from the deal.

The court's decision came as somewhat of a surprise, despite a judge referring to public prosecution evidence last week as "weak". Judge Jean-Claude Marin said the IMF boss's actions were more politically wrong than criminally wrong.

Lagarde was not present at the court hearing on Monday, but has professed her innocence from the beginning of the proceedings. Although she escaped criminal punishment, her second term in charge of the international organsiation may well be under threat following the verdict.

She replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF in 2011, after his resignation due to sexual assault allegations after an incident in New York, which were later dropped.