Lagarde Trial: "Theoretically There Is a Possibility That She Can Go to Jail"

Lagarde Tells US Lawmakers They Risk Tipping World into Recession

Christine Lagarde, Head of the IMF

THE INDEPENDENT: Stark warning from IMF chief comes as search for deal to extend debt ceiling shifts to Senate

American politicians risk causing a “massive disruption the world over” that could tip the global economy into another recession if politics gets in the way of raising the country’s debt ceiling and the ongoing government shutdown remains unresolved, Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, warned today as the US Senate became the focus of talks to end the budgetary deadlock in Washington.

The stark assessment by Ms Lagarde, a former French Finance Minister, came after news that talks between the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, and President Barack Obama had broken down, putting the onus on the Senate leadership to craft a bipartisan pact to avert what experts predict would be financial catastrophe. » | Nikhil Kumar | New York | Sunday, October 13, 2013

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde Warns World Risks Triple Crisis
THE GUARDIAN: Lagarde says world risks falling incomes, environmental damage and social unrest without more sustainable approach to growth

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has warned that the world risks a triple crisis of declining incomes, environmental damage and social unrest unless countries adopt a more sustainable approach to economic growth.

Ahead of the Rio+20 Earth summit later this month, she said the rich should restrain their demands for higher incomes while there are still 200 million people worldwide looking for a job and poverty is on the rise.

Giving her clearest backing yet to green taxes and a range of measures to protect the environment, she argued for taxes on petrol-guzzling cars among a range of green measures to tackle climate change.

"It has been 20 years since world leaders first went to Rio to commit to the noble goal of protecting the planet for future generations. And now, 20 years on, we will be journeying back to Rio to affirm our commitment to sustainable development – the idea that we should strive for economic growth, environmental protection and social progress at the same time," she said in a speech in Washington on Tuesday. » | Phillip Inman, economics correspondent | Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Christine Lagarde, Scourge of Tax Evaders, Pays No Tax

THE GUARDIAN: IMF boss who caused international outrage when she suggested that Greeks should pay their taxes earns a tax-free salary

Christine Lagarde, the IMF boss who caused international outrage after she suggested in an interview with the Guardian on Friday that beleaguered Greeks might do well to pay their taxes, pays no taxes, it has emerged.

As an official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 (£298,675) a year plus $83,760 additional allowance a year is not subject to any taxes.

The former French finance minister took over as managing director of the IMF last year when she succeeded her disgraced compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was forced to resign after he faced charges – later dropped – of sexually attacking a New York hotel maid.

Lagarde, 56, receives a pay and benefits package worth more than American president Barack Obama earns from the United States government, and he pays taxes on it.

The same applies to nearly all United Nations employees – article 34 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations of 1961, which has been signed by 187 states, declares: "A diplomatic agent shall be exempt from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal." » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Don’t Expect Sympathy, Lagarde Tells Greeks – It’s Payback Time »