The Attorney General at the Court of Cassation, Jean-Louis Nadal, on Tuesday urged the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) to open an investigation against the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde for abuse of authority in the arbitration favorably to Bernard Tapie.
Jean-Louis Nadal before the petitions committee of the RGC, said the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Within a month, it should rule on the case and determine if the complaint is admissible.
If this were the case, the Attorney General immediately seize the commission investigating the RGC, which would conduct its investigation, before a possible referral to the RGC.
A few weeks ago, Socialist deputies sent a letter to Mr.Nadal to get a referral to the RGC.
They were the choice of the Minister of Economy to resort to arbitration in settling this matter, rather than relying on traditional justice in this case the Court of Appeal of Paris.
Jean-Louis Nadal gave the Ministry of Economy, the Court of Auditors and the Finance Committee of the National Assembly until April 20 to submit additional elements relating to the award of the arbitral tribunal.
"All these pieces allowed the Attorney General pointed out many reasons to suspect the regularity or legality of settlement by arbitration dispute that may characterize the crime of abuse of authority," the prosecutor general.
In late 2007, Christine Lagarde ordered the appointment of three umpires to decide once and for all the litigation between sprawling Bernard Tapie twelve years at Credit Lyonnais in connection with the sale of Adidas.
After six months of work in July 2008, the arbitral tribunal had sentenced the Consortium de Réalisation (CDR, managing the liabilities of the bank) to pay 240 million euros in compensation to Mr Tapie, with an additional one hundred million euros in interest and 45 million for pain and suffering. This decision was then outraged many members left.
