Gdf Suez - French Businessman Seeks New Probe Into Lagarde Reuters

PARIS Mon May 30, 2011 4:49pm EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - A French business person in addition to anti-corruption campaigner offers asked prosecutors for you to research the factor of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, the leading athlete for being another IMF head, inside a latest company deal.

Jean-Marie Kuhn accuses Lagarde associated with abusing the woman's specialist by allowing for state commercial lender Caisse des Depots to get a 25 p'cent position with GRTgaz, the energy grid with electric GDF Suez (GSZ.PA), before this year, based on a message involving his / her page with a state prosecutor.

"We think real fantasy," a new loan ministry recognized told Reuters in reaction to be able to Kuhn's allegation.

Lagarde, exactly who won value pertaining to your girlfriend part around dealing with this euro zone debt crisis, already fronts an question straight into her 2008 judgement to be in your contest between the express and businessman Bernard Tapie, a friend with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Lagarde includes refused virtually any misconduct within the Tapie affair.

The original major lawyer features rapidly emerged as being the leading customer to help change Dominique Strauss-Kahn as handling overseer on the International Monetary Fund.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Sunday of which your woman have received the actual assistance with leaders from the particular Group connected with Eight nations any time they realized on Thursday and Friday within France.

Kuhn has inquired prosecutor Jean-Louis Nadal who will be additionally investigating your Tapie circumstance to hunt your judge research in to Lagarde's purpose in GDF Suez 's selling with the GRTgaz share to Caisse des Depots.

He stated this transfer utilised criminal court funds to get an expenditure that has been neither strategic for any bank nor offered a purpose to the typical public.

"This is usually embezzlement associated with criminal court money of which Lagarde is usually an accomplice, committing along the way numerous violations involving capacity and also power," Kuhn mentioned with his mail to Nadal, including this his motion wasn't politically motivated.

(Reporting simply by Leigh Thomas ; Editing by Catherine Bremer plus Lin Noueihed)