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French court orders probe of IMF chief

Dunya News

A French court has ordered an investigation into the role of IMF head Christine Lagarde.

Another court in another country but once again the case involves the Head of the International Monetary Fund. This time it is Christine Lagarde - not her predecessor Dominique Strauss Kahn.A French court has backed a prosecutors request to investigate whether Lagardes abused her authority by approving of a massive compensation payment to a friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy.She was Frances Finance Minister at the time. The case involves a 285 million euro payment to Bernard Tapie in 2008.It was paid after he claimed the former state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais defrauded him 15 years earlier when he sold his stake in the sports clothing business Adidas.The former left-wing government minister lost his case in 2006.A year later he switched political sides to support Sarkozys bid for the Presidency, and launched an appeal against the courts decision.Lagarde overruled objections to drop the case. But there is no suggestion she profited personally and her lawyer says she has nothing to fear.The case could take years to run its course and it will not prevent Lagarde doing her job.But it has cast a shadow over her leadership of the IMF - coming just a month after she took office and at a time of global economic turmoil.
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