Head of IMF arrested and accused of sexual assault

[Magda Hassan]

Hmmmmm

Christine Lagarde faces inquiry over €285m payout for Sarkozy ally

Judge orders investigation into controversial decision made by new IMF chief in 2007 when she was French finance minister

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris guardian.co.uk, Thursday 4 August 2011 16.01 BST

A French court has ordered a formal investigation into whether the IMF head Christine Lagarde abused her position when she was finance minister in allowing a huge state settlement to a businessman friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The court of justice of the republic, a special tribunal qualified to judge ministers, ruled there were grounds to examine Lagarde's role in arbitrating in favour of the controversial tycoon Bernard Tapie in 2008.

Tapie, the former owner of the football club Olympic Marseille and Socialist minister, served a seven-month jail term in 1997 for match-fixing and has a tax fraud conviction. In recent years he has made a remarkable public comeback as an actor, singer, chatshow host and prominent supporter of the president.

The Largarde investigation concerns a decades-long legal dispute Tapie had with a former state-owned bank which he claimed cheated him when handling the 1993 sale of his Adidas sports empire.

In 2007, Lagarde ended the dispute by ordering a special panel of judges to arbitrate an out-of-court settlement.

They ruled that Tapie should receive €285m (£247m) in damages from the public purse, a ruling that scandalised opposition politicians.

A judicial inquiry will now examine Lagarde's decision to order arbitration instead of letting the Tapie affair be decided by the courts. It will also consider whether she refused expert advice to appeal against the huge payout, simply allowing Tapie to walk away with his cheque.

The French inquiry into Lagarde is likely to drag on for years and could cast a shadow over her leadership of the IMF. At the end of the investigation, judges will decide whether she should face trial. Lagarde has denied any misconduct in the case.

Lagarde, a lawyer who was one of Sarkozy's most popular ministers, took over leadership of the IMF in Washington on 5 July after the former head, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, resigned amid allegations he attempted to rape a New York hotel maid.

Lagarde's lawyer, Yves Repiquet, immediately issued a statement saying the French judicial inquiry would not affect her IMF duties. "This procedure is in no way incompatible with the current functions of the managing director of the IMF," he said.

The statement was supported by a similar comment from the IMF board, which said: "It would not be appropriate for the board to comment on a case that is currently before the French judiciary. However, the board is confident that she will be able to effectively carry out her duties as managing director."

LATEST UPDATE: 10/07/2013

- BUSINESS - FRANCE - JUSTICE - MEDIA - OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE

French tycoon Tapie blasts court after assets seizure

© Photo: AFP

French business tycoon Bernard Tapie, suspected of rigging a 403 million euro payout during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency, said in a TV interview Wednesday he had been "executed" before "sentence" after judges ordered the seizure of his assets.

By Oliver FARRY (video)





Notorious French business tycoon Bernard Tapie, suspected of rigging a 403 million euro arbitration settlement he received in 2008, on Wednesday said in a TV interview he had been "executed before he was sentenced" after judges ordered his assets seized.
Court bailiffs will confiscate assets worth tens of millions of euros including a luxury villa on the French Mediterranean coast in a move that suggests investigating judges believe they have evidence of fraud arbitration payment he received in 2008 under former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
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Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the Socialist government, which took power after Sarkozy's May 2012 election defeat, had asked for "protective measures" to be taken in case reparations needed to be made to the state.
Tapie a former Socialist minister, singer and football club owner who supported Sarkozy in the last two elections - was awarded the money to settle a dispute with the now defunct, state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais over a 1993 share sale.
He was awarded 285 million euros, rising to 403 million with interest and before taxes, to settle his claim that the bank defrauded him by buying his stake in sports firm Adidas for 315.5 million euros only to sell it on a year on for 701 million.
Sarkozy's legal headaches
Under formal investigation since June 28 on suspicion that the arbitration payment may have been rigged, Tapie has denied any wrongdoing and said he would contest the seizures of his property.
"I didn't realise I live in a country where people are executed before they are sentenced," Tapie, 70, said in a 45-minute interview on French TV channel iTele.
Sarkozy has immunity for life for any acts carried out while he was president.
But the former president could come under scrutiny if it emerged that the arbitration settlement was planned earlier, when he was finance minister under former president Jacques Chirac.
The Tapie affair is the latest in a string of legal headaches pressing on Sarkozy as he mulls a possible political comeback to reunite his fractured UMP conservative party ahead of the 2017 presidential election.
It has embroiled several of his former cabinet members including International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who was his finance minister in 2008.
http://www.france24.com/en/20130710-fren...led_tycoon