International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde announced on Wednesday that prosecutors in France had put her under a formal investigation over an obscure business affair dating back to when she was the finance minister in the Nicolas Sarkozy administration.
Lagarde, through legal counsel said the investigation was for simple negligence, by the judicial body charged with investigating government officials’ conduct.
Lagarde, who denied any wrongdoing from the beginning, said in her statement, the decision by the committee to put her under investigation was completely unfounded and that she would be back working on Wednesday in Washington.
Prosecutors assigned the status of Lagarde as an assisted witness for the case. Placing her under investigation signals that the prosecutors believe evidence exists of her wrongdoing, but a charge of simple negligence does not suggest a high crime.
Negligence by an official in the government that makes possible the embezzlement of misappropriation of public monies has a fine of up to $19,800 and one year behind bars.
In her statement, Lagarde said that following an investigation of three years and interrogation of dozens of hours, the committee has concluded that I was not guilty of an infraction, so it was lowered to claiming I was insufficiently vigilant during that particular arbitration.
In the legal system in France, a formal investigation is a suggestion that prosecutors feel there is enough of a case that could eventually bring charges and a trial.
However, the reality is many of these investigations go one for years and no charges are ever filed prior to them eventually being dropped.
Since it was created in 1944, the top official in the IMF has been a European, with the position alternating amongst the Western European countries.
Lagarde became the managing director in 2011 at the IMF after her predecessor left amidst charges that he sexually assaulted a female in New York. The charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were later dropped.
