FRANCE: IMF chief Chirstine Lagarde arrives at court for second day of quizzing over contentious arbitration

Record ID: 860354

  • Title: FRANCE: IMF chief Chirstine Lagarde arrives at court for second day of quizzing over contentious arbitration
  • Date: 25th May 2013
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 24, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE REPUBLIC, WHICH INVESTIGATES ACTIONS OF GOVERNMENT MINISTERS CAR DRAWING UP/LAGARDE ALIGHTING LAGARDE ARRIVING AT COURT, SMILING LAGARDE ENTERING COURT
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA40KCRWNOUJ57G9Y4XA7H3WSHK
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  • Story Text: International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagarde arrives at a special Paris court to face a further day of quizzing by prosecutors probing her over a contentious arbitration that resulted in a French businessman being handed several hundred million euros by the government.
    IMF chief Christine Lagarde arrived for a second day of questioning by French prosecutors who were due to continue quizzing the French former finance minister over her role in a 285-million-euro ($366 million) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
    During a mammoth session on Thursday, Lagarde spent nearly 12 hours answering the questions of three investigators. She risks being placed under formal investigation at the hearing for her 2007 decision as Sarkozy's finance minister to use arbitration to settle a long-running court battle between the state and high-profile businessman Bernard Tapie.
    Under French law, that step would mean there exists "serious or consistent evidence" pointing to probable implication of a suspect in a crime. It is one step closer to trial but a number of such investigations have been dropped without any trial.
    Such a move could prove uncomfortable for the International Monetary Fund, whose former head, Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn, quit in 2011 over a sex assault scandal, and for a woman rated the most influential in France by Slate magazine.
    In Washington, the IMF has reaffirmed its confidence in her.
    The decision on whether to place her under investigation or give her "supervised witness" status will be announced at the end of the hearing.
    The case goes back to 1993 when Tapie, a colourful and often controversial character in the French business and sports world, sued the state for compensation after selling his stake in sports company Adidas to then state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais.
    Also a one-time Socialist minister who later supported the conservative Sarkozy, Tapie said the bank defrauded him after it resold the stake for a much higher sum. Credit Lyonnais, now part of Credit Agricole has denied wrongdoing.
    Lagarde is not accused of financially profiting herself from the payout and has denied doing anything wrong by opting for an arbitration process that enriched Tapie. With interest, the award amounted to 403 million euros.
    However a court specialising in cases involving ministers is targeting her for complicity in the misuse of funds because she overruled advisers to seek the settlement.
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