Head
of the IMF Christine Lagarde in court charged with embezzlement and fraud
In
court: Christine Lagarde
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Published: 23 May 2013
The head of the International Monetary Fund
arrived in the dock of a Paris courtroom today as she braced herself to be
formally charged with embezzlement and fraud.
Christine Lagarde’s humiliation
is not only a massive personal blow which could lead to her resignation, but
one which will plunge the world’s banking system into further ignominy.
The clearly nervous 57-year-old
said nothing to reporters as she entered the Court of Justice of the Republic,
a special tribunal set up to judge the conduct of France’s government
ministers, shortly after 8.30am.
Lagarde faces a maximum sentence
of 10 years in jail if found guilty of the very serious charges.
It was when she was President
Nicolas Sarkozy’s finance minister that she is said to have authorised a 270
million pounds payout to one of his prominent supporters, so abusing her
government position.
The money went to Bernard Tapie,
a convicted football match fixer and tax dodger who supported Lagarde and
Sarkozy’s UMP party.
It came after Dominque Strauss-Kahn,
another senior French politician, was sacked as IMF chief following allegations
that he attempted to rape a chambermaid in a New York hotel.
Ms Lagarde began campaigning to
succeed Mr Strauss-Kahn soon after his arrest for the alleged crime.
But now it is Ms Lagarde, a
lawyer and retired synchronised swimming star, who is facing a long court
process of her own, as well as a possible jail sentence.
The scandal will not only pile
further shame on France’s political class, but worry politicians and bankers
desperately trying to resolve the global financial crisis.
Mr Tapie, the former head of
adidas in France, claims he was cheated out of millions by Credit Lyonnais bank
when the sports kit empire was sold in 1993.
In 2007, Ms Largarde ended the
epic dispute by ordering a panel of judges to arbitrate and, in turn, they
awarded Tapie the damages.
Opposition MPs were furious, with
former presidential candidate Francois Bayrou accusing Ms Lagarde of ‘dipping
into the taxpayers’ pocket for a private beneficiary.’
Mr Strauss-Kahn’s Socialist Party
also accused Ms Lagarde of improper conduct, pointing to the fact that Mr Tapie
was a vocal supporter of Sarkozy.
Ms Lagarde’s lawyer, Yves
Repiquet, said the inquiry was ‘in no way incompatible’ with her new job, and
expected the case to be dismissed.
Ms Lagarde denies any wrongdoing,
saying before today’s court appearance: ‘If it’s decided to continue with this
inquiry it won’t be particularly surprising. Personally, it doesn’t worry me at
all – I didn’t benefit personally’.
But it has been widely reported
in the French media that investigators intend to charge her with fraud and
embezzlement.
Le Monde said that magistrates
had already written to Mrs Lagarde to tell her that she should not expect any
special treatment because of her high-profile international job.
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