The number of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde she was indicted in France. The news was reported by the Mediapart website. The accusation against him is of "negligence" at the time when he was French finance minister in the arbitration concluded with the payment of 404 million euros of public funds to the French businessman Bernard Tapie. The arbitration concerned the dispute that pitted the former patron of Marseille against the Credit Lyonnais bank for advice on the sale of the German sports brand Adidas. In early December, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered Tapie to repay the funds he had received in 2008.
A minor infraction, as her lawyer Yves Repiquet had underlined at the time when Lagarde ended up under investigation – it was August 2014 – but for which the foreseen penalty goes up to one year in prison and a 10 euro fine. The number one of the IMF had not let herself be discouraged: he had immediately ruled out wanting to resign.
Now, however, the indictment could change the picture, even if the IMF board in a note expresses confidence in the director general's ability to lead the institution, underlining that it is "inappropriate" to comment on the case before the court speaks. For his part, Lagarde has asked her lawyer to appeal against the decision to indict her and has announced that he will inform the board of developments in the matter.
At the beginning of the investigation, when in the same affair Lagarde was questioned as an "assisted witness", an intermediate status between a simple witness and a suspect, the IMF said "confident" in his ability to "effectively fulfill his duties" despite the judicial procedure in which she was involved.
Lagarde, 59, was finance minister at the material time, during the Sarkozy presidency. Tapie supported Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007. Tapie had been a majority shareholder in Adidas but sold it in 1993 and later sued Credit Lyonnais for allegedly defrauding him by underestimating the value of the sports club.
