Wetherspoon prints 200,000 beer mats raising IMF governance issues: JD Wetherspoon has printed 200,000 beer mats for its pubs with a hard-hitting message in the run up to the EU Referendum. The beer mats will be available in each of the company’s 920 plus pubs across the UK. The message draws attention to governance issues with senior staff at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and asks why UK voters should trust the views of its managing director, Christine Lagarde, who has voiced her support for the ‘Remain’ group in the forthcoming referendum. The beer mat has a message on both sides, which is signed by Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin. On one side it shows a photo of Christine Lagarde with Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. It reads: “Dear Madame Lagarde, at Wetherspoon, we sincerely respect and admire the French people and your country, but note that you are due to stand trial in France for your part in authorizing a €400 million payment by the French state to Bernard Tapie – a supporter of your political party. This follows the resignation, in disgrace, of your predecessor at the IMF – Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Why should we trust the IMF?” The reverse of the beer mat raises further questions; Is the governance of the IMF better than FIFA’s? Did anyone elect you? Why is Greece in such trouble after six years of IMF advice? Has the IMF warned the Eurozone that no currency, in history, has survived without a single government? Martin said: “The governance issues within the IMF, are, in my opinion, very serious for UK citizens. The government has paraded a number of financial institutions in front of the public, who have, in my view, grossly distorted our financial prospects in the event of a Brexit. One of these is the IMF, whose boss Christine Lagarde is due to stand trial in France for her role in authorizing a payment to French businessman Bernard Tapie of €400 million. Her predecessor was Dominique Strauss-Kahn who resigned in disgrace. Corporate governance at the IMF is clearly out of control and Christine Lagarde would have been obliged to resign at any normal Plc or institution until the matters in question were resolved. The UK public have been asked to rely on her comments by both George Osborne and David Cameron in the forthcoming referendum and she must now answer the questions on the beer mats and others that the public may have. Christine Lagarde’s intergrity and her bona fides as a national advisor, as well as that of the IMF, are a legitimate and important concern.”