PARIS (MNI) – French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde will have
the backing of her government to take the helm of the International
Monetary Fund, “if she is a candidate,” a top advisor to President
Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday.

The “if” could well become a “once” when Lagarde holds a press
conference today a 9:45 GMT — a conference qualified by ministry
officials as “important.”

Lagarde has earned the esteem of political leaders worldwide for
her coordination of the difficult negotiations over financial regulatory
reforms during France’s presidency of the G-20 group this year.

“Let’s wait to see if she is a candidate,” Henri Guaino, the
Sarkozy advisor, said cagily in a radio interview, letting the suspense
reign for a few more hours.

The other lingering uncertainty is the outcome of an eventual
investigation demanded by France’s public prosecutor into Lagarde’s role
in the resolution of a dispute between the bank Credit Lyonnais and the
entrepreneur Bernard Tapie.

“Christine Lagarde cannot be reproached for anything,” Guaino said.
“Let’s let the procedures take their course.”

In 2007, Lagarde assigned the long, complicated legal dispute
between Tapie and the organization managing the bank’s massive debts to
a panel of judges, who awarded the former Socialist minister E285
billion in compensation from the sale of the firm Adidas.

In a newspaper interview earlier this month, Lagarde argued that
she had acted solely in the public interest, following the rules with
complete transparency.

“They are trying to sully me,” Lagarde said. “No doubt to bury the
fact that all of that is the heritage of the little deals of the epoche
of [President Francois] Mitterrand, with those then in power giving
lessons of virtue today.”

European Commissioner for Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn also weighed
in favor of Lagarde, highlighting her international standing. “Her
reputation has grown even more in these last months thanks to her astute
management of the debt crisis in Europe,” Rehn told the French business
daily Les Echos.

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