IMF总裁拉加德因腐败案遭调查

    国际货币基金组织（IMF）总裁克里斯蒂娜•拉加德因其2008年的相关行为遭到了法国法院的正式调查。

    在IMF上一任总裁、法国人多米尼克•斯特劳斯-卡恩遭到性侵酒店女佣的指控后，拉加德接掌了IMF。法院怀疑拉加德在任法国财政部长期间涉嫌渎职（当时萨科齐政府执政）。

    具体而言，法院开展调查的原因在于，她授权付给商人贝尔纳德•塔皮耶4亿欧元赔偿，就塔皮耶起诉里昂信贷银行（Crédit Lyonnais）这一纠缠多年的官司达成和解。里昂信贷银行是一家法国国有银行，因大肆放贷于上世纪90年代初破产。

    塔皮耶同时也是前任社会党部长，在2007年法国总统大选中曾高调支持右倾的萨科齐。2008年，也就是塔皮耶向萨科齐提供支持不到一年后，他的官司得到了和解。

    拉加德否认了任何与渎职有关的质疑。

    法新社（AFP）援引她的话称：“我已让我的律师对法院这一决定提起上诉，我认为这一指控是完全没有依据的。”

    在法国司法界，遭到正式调查意味着法院认为犯罪行为已发生。《金融时报》（Financial Times）援引拉加德发言人的话称，这一未有定论的罪行最高量刑是一年期监禁。但是仅开展调查并不意味着被调查对象将受到指控。（财富中文网）

    译者：Feng

    International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde has been placed under formal investigation by a French court for her role in dating back to 2008.

    Lagarde, who took over from fellow-Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the IMF after the latter was embroiled in allegations of sexually assaulting a hotel maid, is suspected by the court of “negligence” while serving as Finance Minister under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

    Specifically, the court’s concerns refer to the €400 million payment that she approved to businessman Bernard Tapie to settle a long-running litigation against Crédit Lyonnais, a state-owned bank that collapsed in the early 1990s after a reckless lending spree.

    The settlement, in 2008, followed less than a year after Tapie, a former Socialist minister, gave high-profile support to the center-right campaign of Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential elections.

    Lagarde denies any suggestion of having acted improperly.

    “I have instructed my lawyer to appeal this decision which I consider totally without merit,” AFP quoted her as saying.

    In the French judicial system, being placed under formal investigation reflects the court’s belief that a crime has been committed. The Financial Times cited Lagarde’s spokesman as saying that the maximum penalty for the crime in question would be a year in prison. But merely placing someone under investigation doesn’t automatically mean they will be charged.