Politically-connected French businessman Bernard Tapie was charged with fraud Friday over a colossal payment he received from the state in 2008, when International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde was finance minister, dpa reported. Tapie, 70, was charged after four days of questioning over the 403 million euros (525 million dollars) he received to settle a long-running legal battle with the state over the sale of his shares in sporting goods company Adidas. He denied the charges. The size of the settlement caused a scandal in France, where many suspected a link with the entrepreneur's stated support for then president Nicolas Sarkozy. The case arose out of the 1993 sale of Tapie's sporting goods company Adidas to a group of investors. Tapie, who was in financial difficulty at the time, accused state-owned bank Credit Lyonnais, which arranged the sale, of defrauding him. After multiple court cases the government and Tapie agreed in 2007 to settle the matter through arbitration. -- SPA 18:54 LOCAL TIME 15:54 GMT تغريد
