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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Lagarde: Trailblazing woman at the IMF

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Christine Lagarde is a high-flying former lawyer who rose to become the first woman to lead the International Monetary Fund but who may find her stellar career blemished by a conviction for negligence.


The silver-haired Lagarde, 60, is credited with steering the Washington-based IMF through turbulent economic waters since taking over in 2011.


She started a second five-year term as the organisation’s managing director in February and has won plaudits for her handling of the Greek financial crisis.


But her conviction in Paris for failing to challenge a 404-million-euro ($422 million) award to flamboyant French businessman Bernard Tapie in 2008 over the sale of sportswear brand Adidas is a setback.


However, in what might prove crucial for Lagarde’s IMF future, the court ruled she will not be fined or face a jail sentence.


Her woes strike at the core of another of her tasks: Restoring morale at the institution after both of her predecessors suffered legal problems.


Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister like Lagarde, resigned in disgrace in 2011 after being accused of attempted rape in a New York hotel.


Rodrigo Rato, a Spanish former banker who ran the Fund from 2004-2007, is on trial for embezzlement in his native Spain.


Before the trial, Lagarde, usually impeccably dressed in luxury French brands, dismissed the prosecution over the case of Tapie as “political”. The court that tried her is staffed by judges and parliamentarians and hears the cases of former or serving French ministers.


The case is a stain on an otherwise stellar international career in business, government and finance that has seen her break through barriers as a woman.


She was the first female chairman of a major global law firm — the US-based Baker and McKenzie — and was France’s first woman economy minister when named by then president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.


She took over the reins of the IMF in 2011, overseeing the giant organisation which lends money to stricken countries and monitors the international financial system.


Economist Desmond Lachman, a former IMF official, recalls that “there are many instances of Lagarde’s courageous truth-telling” — often as the only women in the room.


This once included scolding her successor as French finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, who fell asleep during one of many crisis meetings on her watch at the IMF.


During her time at the IMF, Lagarde has worked to increase the influence of emerging countries, particularly China, and has taken part in bailout talks for Greece and Ukraine.— AFP


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