Lagarde, 60, faces charges, which she denies, of being negligent
when, as French finance minister, she approved in 2008 a payout
to businessman Bernard Tapie in an out-of-court settlement which
cost the French taxpayer 400 million euros ($425 million).
If convicted when the decision is announced next Monday, Lagarde
could face up to a year in jail and a fine of 15,000 euros
though the special court she faces has never passed a jail
sentence on anyone in 23 years of existence.
Conviction or severe censure could raise questions about her
ability to conduct her work at the Washington-based
International Monetary Fund, one of the pillars of the global
financial system.
Prosecutors, who never wanted Lagarde to stand trial, on
Thursday urged the court to acquit her. The special court
hearing her case went ahead.
"These five days of trial have brought to an end a five-year
ordeal," Lagarde said, her voice cracking with emotion, as she
delivered her final comments to the court.
The charges allege that Lagarde showed negligence, leading to
misuse of public funds, by accepting too easily the costly
arbitration settlement with Tapie and not contesting it to the
benefit of the state.
"I acted in good faith and good conscience with the sole aim of
defending the general interest," Lagarde said. "I should have
taken account of all possible risks. I tried to do that but ...
the risk of fraud never occurred to me at all," she said.
Lagarde, who has withstood aggressive questioning during the
hearing, earlier this week said she had accepted the Tapie
settlement in the best interests of the state and to draw a line
under an affair that had dragged on for 15 years.
The 15 judges who make up the Republic's Court of Justice, a
special court which judges ministers, withdrew to consider their
verdict on Friday.
Lagarde's decision in 2008 not to challenge the arbitration
settlement with Tapie ran against the counsel of a government
body that regulate state corporate holdings.
But her defence has argued that she was not kept sufficiently
informed of the case by her aides.
(Reporting by Chine Labbe; Writing by Richard Balmforth Editing
by Jeremy Gaunt)
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