France's highest appeals court has ordered Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to stand trial over her role in a massive state payout in 2008, when she was the French finance minister.
The court dismissed on Friday July 22,2016 Christine Lagarde's challenge against a judge's order in December to try her for negligence in her handling of a dispute between a state-owned bank and controversial business tycoon Bernard Tapie.
Bernard Tapie walked away at the time with $445m of taxpayers' money in compensation after Lagarde ordered the long-running row over the sale of his stake in sportswear giant Adidas to be resolved by arbitration.
Christine Lagarde's lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve expressed regret over Friday's decision, saying he was "convinced" that Lagarde would be "absolved of all responsibility".
IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said that its executive board had been briefed on the matter and continued to have confidence in Lagarde's capacity to carry out her functions.
Note
Christine Lagarde(60)will be the third successive IMF chief to face trial.
Her predecessor, compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned from his IMF post in 2011 to fight sexual assault allegations in the United States.
Spain's former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato has also been ordered to stand trial for misusing funds when he was head of Spanish lender Bankia.
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