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PARIS – IMF chief Christine Lagarde was Wednesday questioned for the third time by French prosecutors in a high-profile corruption case that has become a thorn in the side of one of the world’s most powerful women. Lagarde faces questions over her handling of a US$557 million state payout to disgraced French tycoon Bernard Tapie in 2008 when she was finance minister.
She will be questioned by prosecutors working for the Court of Justice of the Republic, a special court that probes cases of ministerial misconduct, amid suspicions that Tapie received favourable treatment in return for supporting ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 election.
The payout was connected to a dispute between the businessman and partly state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais over his 1993 sale of sportswear group Adidas.
Tapie claimed Credit Lyonnais had defrauded him by intentionally undervaluing Adidas at the time of the sale and that the state, as the bank’s principal shareholder, should compensate him.
Lagarde, who referred the dispute to a three-member arbitration panel that ruled in Tapie’s favour, was questioned for two days in May last year about her role in the affair.
Prosecutors have suggested that Lagarde was partly responsible for “numerous anomalies and irregularities” that could lead to charges for complicity in fraud and misappropriation of public funds.
Lagarde on Wednesday declined comment as she came into court. Wearing a dark suit and scarf, she called out “hello” to journalists before walking inside. – AFP.
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