France Telecom chief charged over Bernard Tapie award
Stephane Richard accused of fraud while he was assistant to Christine Lagarde, over €400m given to businessman
The Guardian, Wednesday 12 June 2013 21.40 BST
France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard, pictured in 2010. Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP
The CEO of France Telecom, Stephane Richard, has been charged with fraud in relation to his role as chief of staff to Christine Lagarde when she was France's finance minister.
Richard had been questioned about the decision by the French treasury, in 2008, to grant a €400m (£340m) award to the business tycoon Bernard Tapie.
Richard was charged yesterday having been detained by financial police on Monday and admitted to a special interrogation room at a hospital near Notre Dame cathedral as a "precautionary measure" after suffering fatigue after two days of questioning. Neither France Telecom nor Richard's lawyer commented immediately. Richard has previously said he was "trying in good faith to defend the state's best interests".
Tapie, a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, won the award in arbitration in 2008 to end a dispute with the government over his company's sale of Adidas. Tapie claimed the then-state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais had cheated him while handling the sale.
Lagarde, now managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has also been questioned and has denied any wrongdoing. She has been named as a key witness but was not charged.
The then-socialist opposition claimed the arbitration process was rigged to reward Tapie for his support of Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election. The socialist government has not yet replaced any of the bosses of the major state-owned companies such as EDF or GDF, but could move Richard on if the Tapie case prevents him from carrying out his duties.
Bruno le Roux, the leader of the Socialists in the National Assembly, said France Telecom's board should decide Richard's fate at the company.
