Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Breaking: IMF's Lagarde Flat Raided Over French 'Payout' Probe

 The Telegraph reports, Christine Lagarde's Paris flat has been raided by police.

Developing...

UPDATE

French authorities have searched the Paris flat of IMF chief Christine Lagarde as part of an investigation into her handling of a 2008 compensation payment to a businessman supporter of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, her lawyer said.

UPDATE 2

Andrew Trotman at The Telegraph reports:
Police are investigating claims that Lagarde, when French Finance Minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, acted illegally in approving the €285m arbitration payout to Bernard Tapie. 
Lagarde denies any wrongdoing. 
"This search will help uncover the truth, which will contribute to exonerating my client from any criminal wrongdoing," Lagarde's lawyer, Yves Repiquet, told Reuters.

UPDATE 3

Via the BBC:
 As finance minister, she referred his long-running dispute with bank Credit Lyonnais to an arbitration panel, which awarded him 400m euros (£340m) damages.[...]

The origins of the case date back 20 years.

Mr Tapie, who has long been active in French business, sporting and political circles, sued Credit Lyonnais over its handling of the sale in 1993 of sportswear brand Adidas, in which he was a majority stakeholder.

After years in the courts, the case was referred by Ms Lagarde to an arbitration panel in 2007 and she approved its decision to award damages.

Critics said the case should not have been settled by private arbitration, since public money was at stake in the bank, which was part-owned by the state.

UPDATE 4

 Lagarde is currently the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She was named to the position after Dominique Strauss-Kahn ,under curious circumstances, was accused of raping a hotel maid at the Sofitel Hotel in NYC.

2 comments:

  1. She's past her sell by date.
    This isn't an investigation or a 'audit' of documents in her office. This is an invasion of her home. It has been decided that she is no longer of use to the empire.
    Even if they 'find nothing', you can't 'walk back' an invasion of someone's home. She's been branded.
    In the minds of the masses, she's done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tehy were going to accuse her of raping a hotel maid at the Sofitel Hotel in NYC, but figured it was just going to be too tough a sell...

    ReplyDelete