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She
was French finance minister at the time.
The court rejected her appeal against a judge's order in
December for her to stand trial at the Cour de Justice de la
Republique, a special court that tries ministers for crimes in
office.
Her lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve expressed regret over the
decision and said he was convinced that the trial would show she
was innocent.
Lagarde is accused of negligence by improperly signing off on
the decision to allow an extremely rare out-of-court arbitration
in a dispute between Tapie, a supporter of conservative former
president Nicolas Sarkozy, and the state.
The arbitration judges later ruled in Tapie's favor and ordered
the state payout to him, but appeals courts have since thrown
out the settlement decision.
A Paris appeals court has ordered Tapie to reimburse the state,
but the colorful businessman has lodged an appeal, which is
still pending.
The case goes back to when Tapie had sued the state for
compensation after selling his stake in sports company Adidas to
Credit Lyonnais in 1993. He claimed the bank had defrauded him
after it later resold his stake for a much higher sum.
Despite the shadow of the case looming over her, Lagarde was
appointed in January for a second five-year term as managing
director of the International Monetary Fund.
(Reporting by Chine Labbe; writing by Leigh Thomas Editing by
Jeremy Gaunt.)
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