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French court to investigate IMF chief's role in financial dispute
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Paris (CNN) -- A French court will investigate International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde to determine her role in a financial dispute, Gerard Palisse, president of the investigative committee, said Thursday.
Lagarde is accused of having intervened in 2007 in a long-running court dispute between French tycoon Bernard Tapie and the bank Credit Lyonnais.
Tapie, a former television presenter and football club owner who also owned Adidas in the 1990s, accused Credit Lyonnais of fraudulently profiting from the 1993 sale of the company by offering loans at special rates to its new owners. The French government was implicated because it wholly owned Credit Lyonnais after a 1995 bailout.
Lagarde, then the French finance minister, opted for a special panel of judges, rather than a traditional jury, to arbitrate in the case. In 2008, the arbitration panel ordered Credit Lyonnais to pay Tapie 240 million euros (about $340 million) in damages.
She is accused of abusing her authority and giving Tapie preferential treatment because of his support for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as settling through private arbitration a matter concerning public funds.
Lagarde also told a parliamentary commission at the time that Tapie would never receive more than 30 million euros ($42 million).
Lagarde denies any wrongdoing.
"The result will be such that it will be precisely Christine Lagarde's innocence that will be proven," her attorney, Yves Repiquet, told reporters Thursday. "She is not worried at all and neither am I."
Lagarde took the helm of the IMF in June, succeeding Dominique Strauss-Kahn after his arrest on sexual assault charges.
"In regard to Ms. Lagarde, the executive board prior to its selection of the new managing director discussed the case in France," the IMF executive board said in a statement issued Thursday. "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."
source :
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/08/04/france.imf.chief.tapie/index.html
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