Monday, December 12, 2016

Lurking: the boss of the IMF Christine Lagarde before the court – The Point

A-t-it by its “negligence” allowed a huge embezzlement of public money in favour of Bernard Tapie? Christine Lagarde, ex-minister and current boss of the IMF, appears Monday before the Court of justice of the Republic (CJR).

“I tried to do all my work, to the extent possible within the limits of what I knew,” said Ms. Lagarde, 60 years old, in a news report aired Sunday evening on France 2, saying it was “confident and determined”.

She could face up to one year imprisonment and € 15,000 fine in the case of arbitration occurred in the very old conflict between Bernard Tapie and the former state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais over the sale in 1994 of sports equipment Adidas.

“negligence is an unintentional offense. I think we’re all a bit careless somewhere in his life,” added the one who will be the seventh member of government to appear before the RGC, in charge from 1993 to judge ministers for crimes and délits committed in the exercise of their functions.

14: 00 will open his trial before this special court, composed of three judges of the Court of cassation, six deputies and six senators. It is expected to last until 20 December.

Christine Lagarde, renewed the upper-hand last summer as the director general of the IMF, indicated that it would “leave” of the international monetary Fund the time of the trial, without deciding on the consequences of a conviction.

“She will be relaxed and, therefore, this question does not arise”, has swept his lawyer, Me Patrick Maisonneuve Monday on Europe 1. It intends to seek a stay of the proceedings, wondering how the RGC could say “yes or no” there has been “misappropriation of public funds in a few days when the judges parisians are seized of this matter and that they have not settled for several years.”

- “No gift” according to Tapie -

Minister of Economy and Finance between 2007 and 2011 under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, christine Lagarde is considered the title of the article 432-16 of the criminal Code, which is intended for any person agent of the public authority that would, by its “negligence”, allowed a misappropriation of public funds.

He is accused of having made evidence in this matter, “a carelessness and a rush to criticize” and thus have “deprived the State of a chance to prevent its funds being diverted”.

in the fall of 2007, it has approved, with “lightness” according to the investigators, the choice of a private procedure of arbitration in the case Tapie and Credit Lyonnais.

Then in July 2008 she gave up, a little too quickly according to the magistrates, to take recourse against the arbitral award that gives the businessman more than 400 million euros (with interest), taken from the public funds.

The use of arbitration loomed, however, before his arrival at Bercy. Especially, Ms. Lagarde was not involved in the choice, very controversial, of the arbitrators.

The arbitration was cancelled 2015 calendar, with the obligation for Mr. Tapie to repay. Criminal investigators suspect a “sham” organized for the benefit of the business man, the lawyer had links with one of the referees.

In this part of the sprawling case Tapie, six people are indicted, among others for the “scam”. Among them, the former director of the cabinet of Christine Lagarde at Bercy, and current CEO of Orange, Stéphane Richard.

The CJR wants to hear some of them, including Mr. Richard, as witnesses.

The Court also wants, according to sources close to the matter, cite the two predecessors of Ms. Lagarde at Bercy, Thierry Breton and Jean-Louis Borloo, as well as two former pillars of the Palace: the former secretary general of the presidency Claude Gueant and the former economic advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy, the banker François Pérol.

Bernard Tapie, who denies having cheated and abused the taxpayer and disputes the cancellation of the arbitration, said Sunday, in the JDD that Christine Lagarde did it “has never made a gift.” “As a minister, she did what she had to do. Neither more, nor less”.

12/12/2016 08:53:35 – Paris (AFP) – © 2016 AFP

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