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Is the IMF the kiss of death for the French? In the wake of the May resignation of IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn following his arrest for sexual assault, his successor, Christine Lagarde, has become the target of uncomfortable allegations. A judicial inquiry is to investigate the role of the former French Finance Minister in the settlement of a dispute between businessman Bernard Tapie and a bankrupt nationalised bank, Crédit lyonnais. Lagarde is suspected of abusing her position by placing the matter, which had been in the courts since the mid-1990s, in the hands of panel of private arbitrators in 2008. The arbitrators subsequently ruled in favour of Tapie, and ordered the state to pay him damages of 390 million euros.
"Lagarde trips up over Tapie," headlines Libération, which points to the businessman’s “close association with the head of state" Nicolas Sarkozy. For the left-wing daily, the managing director of the IMF "has been undermined in an institution which insists that its staff behave with ‘integrity, impartiality and discretion.'" Adopting a more cautious tone, the editorial in right-wing daily Le Figaro arguesthat the affair "should not give rise to a media circus" and reminds its readers that "the investigation is a routine judicial procedure." For its part, Catholic newspaper La Croix points out that the news will come as yet a further problem for Lagarde: "This new situation in Paris will not help her in her role in Washington or in the resolution of international disputes."
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