Christine Lagarde (Xinhua file pic)
PARIS, July 22 (Xinhua) -- France's Court of Cassation on Friday ordered Christine Lagarde, chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to stand for trial over her role in handling the Tapie case in 2008 after rejecting her appeal, local media reported.
France's Court of Justice of the Republic, a special body for the trials of government officials, decided on December 2015 to call IMF head to stand trial as part of the investigation for "complicity in forgery and embezzlement of public funds" in the Tapie case, two months after prosecutors demanded that the charges against her should be dropped.
She appealed the court decision, maintaining her innocence since the investigation began in 2011.
The probing focused on Lagarde's role in the awarding of financial compensation of about 400 million euros to businessman Bernard Tapie in his dispute with Credit Lyonnais on the acquisition of Adidas in 2008 when Lagarde served as French finance minister.
In May 2013, Lagarde was named as "assisted witness," in the corruption probe, which means there is a possibility for her to be charged later. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollar)
