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CRIME

IMF confirms faith in Lagarde after police raid

The IMF said Thursday said it remains confident in Managing Director Christine Lagarde despite a French probe into her handling of a high-profile scandal when she was a government minister.

Published: 28 March 2013 16:29 CET
IMF confirms faith in Lagarde after police raid
Photo: IMF

"It would not be appropriate to comment on a case that has been and that is currently before the French judiciary," International Monetary Fund spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters in a briefing.

However, he added, "the executive board has been briefed on this matter, including recently, and continues to express its confidence in the managing director's ability to effectively carry out her duties."

On March 20, French police raided Lagarde's Paris home in connection with the investigation into her decision in 2007, when she was minister in charge of the economy, to ask an arbitration panel to rule on a dispute between disgraced tycoon Bernard Tapie and the collapsed bank Credit Lyonnais.

The arbitration resulted in Tapie being awarded around 400 million euros ($510 million).

That outcome triggered outrage among critics who insisted the state should never have taken the risk of being forced to pay money to Tapie, a convicted criminal.

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Two computers stolen from French Olympics’ organiser in Lille

Two computers belonging to "a manager responsible for the planning of the Lille Olympic site" were stolen from a car parked in the city, the prosecutor's office said on Tuesday.

Published: 1 May 2024 08:38 CEST
Two computers stolen from French Olympics' organiser in Lille

However, the spokesperson did not specify the nature of the data linked to the Olympic Games that they contained.

“The complaint from a manager responsible for the planning of the Lille Olympic site was received on the evening of April 29 regarding the theft of two laptops and a badge which were in the organiser’s vehicle, which was parked in front of their home,” said Lille prosecutor Carole Etienne.

“Investigations are underway” to identify the suspect and determine “the exact nature of the data that these computers contained in connection with the 2024 Olympics,” she added.

According to a police source, one of the stolen computers was likely to contain “security plans” for the infrastructure of the Olympic village of Villeneuve-d’Ascq in Lille.

The theft occurred Monday at around 6:30 pm, according to this source, who said that access to files hosted on the network and the cloud was blocked by the Paris 2024 IT department.

“In accordance with Paris 2024 procedures, all data recorded on Paris 2024 computer equipment is encrypted and protected by passwords, and as soon as the theft was reported, the computer was locked remotely,”  a spokesperson from the Olympics’ Organising Committee (Cojo) said.

“The security of computer equipment is one of the priorities of Paris 2024, which has taken all risks into account in order to deal with any incident,” the Committee said.

The stolen badge was “an identification badge which does not allow any door to be opened” and “the computer was turned off”, a second police source told AFP.

At the end of February, a bag belonging to an engineer from the City of Paris and containing a computer and two USB sticks where notes relating to the Paris Olympic Games were stored was stolen from a train at Gare du Nord.

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