French Businessman Held in Corruption Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/europe/french-businessman-held-in-corruption-case.html

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PARIS — The French police on Monday arrested Bernard Tapie, a businessman and politician at the center of a political corruption scandal, for questioning. Mr. Tapie can be held for up to four days without charges as the authorities investigate accusations of abuses in an arbitration panel that awarded him $528 million in 2008, when Christine Lagarde, now the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was France's finance minister. Investigators are looking into accusations that the arbitration was rigged by the government of former President Nicolas Sarkozy; Mr. Tapie was awarded the money after the panel had decided he was cheated of the proceeds of the sale of Adidas, which he had owned. Ms. Lagarde has been questioned and is considered only a witness in the case, but her chief of cabinet at the time, Stéphane Richard, now the head of France Télécom, is a suspect in the continuing investigation. All those cited in the investigation say they did nothing wrong.