法庭：拉加德?lián)畏▏旈L時玩忽職守

Christine Lagarde, International Monetary Fund head, was yesterday found guilty of negligence in public office during her time as French finance minister by a special Paris court.

國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)總裁克里斯蒂娜•拉加德(Christine Lagarde)昨日被巴黎一個特別法庭認定在擔任法國財政部長期間玩忽職守。

The IMF board met in Washington last night to consider the case, in which the tribunal decided not to impose any sentence or to place the verdict on Ms Lagarde’s judicial record. Michel Sapin, finance minister, said the French government continued to have “complete confidence ” in Ms Lagarde in her role at the IMF.

IMF董事會昨晚在華盛頓開會審議這一案件。上述法庭決定不對拉加德判刑，也不把這一判決結果載入她的司法檔案。法國財政部長米歇爾•薩賓(Michel Sapin)表示，法國政府繼續(xù)“完全信任”拉加德在IMF的工作。

The court, dedicated to judging ministers, said Ms Lagarde failed to prevent a €403m payout that Paris made to flamboyant entrepreneur Bernard Tapie in a long-running dispute with the state. The payment was later ruled to have been fraudulent. The tribunal said Ms Lagarde should have appealed the payout, awarded by an arbitration panel in 2008.

專門審理部長級官員案件的這個法庭稱，拉加德未能阻止法國政府向伯納德•塔皮(Bernard Tapie)支付一筆4.03億歐元款項，后者是一個行為張揚的企業(yè)家，曾長期與國家鬧糾紛。這筆款項后來被裁定為欺詐。法庭稱，拉加德本來應該對2008年由一個仲裁小組裁定支付的這筆賠償金提出上訴。

The conviction was an unwelcome stain on the IMF managing director’s stint at the fund. But establishment figures rallied behind her. Olivier Blanchard, former IMF chief economist, called the ruling unfair. “She is the one of the most scrupulous persons I have ever worked with, so any notion that she might have gone along with a deal she thought was legally wrong should be rejected. ‘Negligence’ is the opposite of how she works.”

這一有罪判決對拉加德在IMF的職務是一個不受歡迎的污點。但是體制內人士迅速表態(tài)支持她。IMF前首席經濟學家奧利維爾•布蘭查德(Olivier Blanchard)表示，這一裁決是不公平的。“她是我共事過的最嚴謹的人之一，所以任何認為她可能批準她認為在法律上錯誤的交易的說法應該被拒絕。‘玩忽職守’是她工作方式的反面。”

Ms Lagarde was reappointed to a second five-year term earlier this year and remains popular with staff and the IMF’s major shareholders, who credit her and her political skills for turning round the fund’s reputation after the removal of her predecessor, and compatriot, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

拉加德今年早些時候獲得第二個五年任期的任命，并繼續(xù)受到工作人員和IMF主要股東的歡迎，各方對她和她的政治技巧表示贊賞，稱其為扭轉她的前任、同為法國人的多米尼克•斯特勞斯-卡恩(Dominique Strauss-Kahn)離職后IMF的聲譽做出了貢獻。

The IMF’s board had been preparing for a possible conviction. People close to major shareholders said that in the absence of a prison term — and with continuing support from the French government — Ms Lagarde would probably be able to stay in her position.

此前IMF董事會已經在準備面對拉加德被判有罪的可能性。接近主要股東的人士表示，只要沒有被判獄中服刑——而且繼續(xù)得到法國政府的支持，拉加德很可能會留任。

Most of the fund’s major shareholders were eager to avoid a wrangle over leadership, particularly with the new Trump administration preparing to take over in Washington. Any leadership battle could bring questions over the representation of emerging economies at the IMF and the World Bank back to the fore and spark an unwelcome fight over control of the multilateral institutions.

IMF的多數股東都渴望避免在領導層問題上較勁，特別是在特朗普政府準備就職之際。任何領導層角力都可能再度令人關注新興經濟體在IMF和世界銀行(World Bank)的代表性問題，引發(fā)圍繞這兩家多邊機構控制權的令人不快的爭執(zhí)。