MF chief Christine Lagarde is to stand trial in France for alleged negligence over a €400m (£291m; $434m) payment to a businessman in 2008.
She was finance minister in President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government at the time of the compensation award to Bernard Tapie for the sale of a firm. Mr Tapie supported Mr Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election. Ms Lagarde’s lawyer described the court’s decision as “incomprehensible”, and said the IMF boss would appeal.
Mr Tapie was once a majority shareholder in sports goods company Adidas but sold it in 1993 in order to become a cabinet minister in Francois Mitterrand’s Socialist government. He sued the Credit Lyonnais bank over its handling of the sale, alleging that the partly state-owned bank had defrauded him by deliberately undervaluing the company.
His case was later referred by Ms Lagarde to a three-member arbitration panel which awarded the compensation. Christine Lagarde denies wrongdoing in the Bernard Tapie compensation case. Investigators suspect he was granted a deal in return for his support of Nicolas Sarkozy.
Earlier this month, a French court ruled that Mr Tapie was not entitled to any compensation for that sale and should pay back the €400m with interest.
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