IMF Head Christine Lagarde to Face Trial

 Christine Lagarde

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde will face trial for “negligence” in relation to a settlement the French government reached with businessman Bernard Tapie during her time as finance minister, Mediapart reports.

Lagarde, 59, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Her lawyers are preparing a statement, a spokesman told Bloomberg, declining further comment.

According to Bloomberg, the trial concerns Lagarde’s 2008 decision to allow an arbitration process to end a dispute between Tapie, a supporter of then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and former state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais. The court has been looking into whether she erred in agreeing to the arbitration, which resulted in the business tycoon being awarded about 403 million euros ($438 million.)

It's always fun to see a major bankster tool being harassed by the government and some of the best crony infighting I have seen has come out of France.

Notes Bloomberg:

Having to face trial in France could have serious implications for Lagarde’s future at the helm of the International Monetary Fund. Her five-year term as managing director expires in July. At the fund’s annual meeting in Lima in October, Lagarde said she’d be open to serving another term.

Lagarde took over as head of the IMF in 2011 when Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned after a hotel maid accused him of sexual assault. Prosecutors dropped a criminal case amid inconsistencies in her testimony; Strauss-Kahn reached an undisclosed civil settlement with the woman.

 -RW