PARIS — A French court has postponed a decision on whether to open an investigation into Christine Lagarde, the country’s finance minister and front-runner to take the helm at the International Monetary Fund, a judicial official said Friday.
The Court of Justice of the Republic, a special tribunal that handles legal matters involving government ministers, will announce its decision July 8 instead of Friday, as had initially been expected, the official said. She was speaking on condition of anonymity, in accordance with French judicial policy.
Questions have been raised about Lagarde’s role in getting arbitration in 2008 for French businessman Bernard Tapie, who won $449 million as compensation for the mishandling of the sale of sportswear maker Adidas.
Lagarde has denied any wrongdoing.
She’s on a world tour to support her bid to be the next managing director of the IMF. She was recently in China, India and Brazil and is expected to make stops in Saudi Arabia and Egypt during the weekend.
The other declared candidate for the top post — vacated by Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who quit after he was charged last month with sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid — is Mexico’s central bank governor, Agustin Carstens.
Nominations for managing director closed Friday, and the body’s 24-member executive board is to vote June 30.
