IMF boss, her court battle and echoes of Antoinette
DRESSED in funereal black, IMF boss Christine Lagarde yesterday went on trial in the same Paris courtroom where Marie Antoinette was sentenced to death more than two centuries ago.
Surrounded by lawyers, Miss Lagarde arrived in the historic chamber of the Palais de Justice in Paris to answer accusations she swindled French taxpayers out of millions.
Like the last queen of France in 1793, the 60-yearold was clearly nervous. Marie Antoinette reputedly dressed in the same black dress throughout her trial, but yesterday Miss Lagarde added a brightly coloured silk scarf to her sombre outfit.
the IMF chief told the court: ‘I don’t intend to remain silent’, adding that she was determined to prove her innocence. She faces the possibility of a year in prison if found guilty of negligence by a person in a position of public authority. Specifically, she is accused of wrongly paying flamboyant businessman Bernard tapie £335million when she was in the French government eight years ago.
Confirming her name and Washington DC address, Miss Lagarde said her annual salary was $450,000
‘I think we are all a bit negligent sometimes’
(£355,000), which she gets free of income tax along with a generous living allowance and expenses.
the IMF chief told French TV: ‘Negligence is a non-intentional offence. I think we are all a bit negligent sometimes in our life. I have done my job as well as I could, within the limits of what I knew.’
She denied acting on the orders of her boss in 2008, the then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is facing corruption allegations of his own.
the complex case dates back to France being sued by Sarkozy supporter Mr tapie after he sold his stake in sports firm Adidas to the bank Credit Lyonnais in 1993. he claimed the bank, which was state-owned at the time, had defrauded him after it re-sold his stake for a much higher sum.
Miss Lagarde, who was finance minister from 2007 to 2011, signed off on the £335million settlement. Although judges originally sanctioned the payment, appeal courts have since ruled against it. Mr tapie has been told to pay it back, but is fighting this.
Miss Lagarde faces a £12,500 fine if found guilty. the IMF is being briefed on the case – expected to last until next week – and has so far stood by her.
Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine on october 16, 1793, aged 37, after she was tried on charges including ‘depletion of the national treasury’.