Lagarde keeps job, escapes penalty after conviction

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde escaped punishment and kept her job on Monday despite a conviction on negligence charges over a state payout made while she served as France's finance minister in 2008.

The executive board representing the IMF's 189 member countries reaffirmed its full confidence in Lagarde's ability to lead the crisis lender, hours after the verdict was issued by a panel of judges in Paris with no fine or jail term.

Lagarde told reporters at IMF headquarters that she would not appeal the decision after vigorously fighting the charge since she took the IMF's helm in 2011.