The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde appeared before a French magistrate yesterday to face questioning over allegations of embezzlement and fraud.
The probe centres on a €400m (£342m) arbitration payment to a supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French President, when Lagarde (pictured) was his finance minister. She risks being placed under formal investigation for her decision to use arbitration to settle a long-running court battle between the state and businessman Bernard Tapie in 2007, Reuters reports. Tapie, the former head of Adidas in France, claims he was cheated out of millions by Credit Lyonnais bank when the sports kit empire was sold in 1993. In 2007, Largarde ended the dispute by ordering a panel of judges to ar...
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