Controversial former minister to be tried alongside current head of telecoms company Orange over €400m payout during Sarkozy administration

Bernard Tapie, the French businessman and former Socialist minister, is to stand trial for embezzlement and misuse of public funds alongside the current head of the French telecommunications company Orange, in the latest twist in a longrunning scandal over a huge taxpayer-funded payout of €400m (£350m).

In the soap opera of French political personalities, few are as colourful and controversial as Tapie, a rags-to-riches businessman who began as a failed popstar and wannabe racing driver, hosted TV shows, and became a minister under François Mitterrand. His ownership of Olympique de Marseille football club led to a jail sentence for match-fixing, before he reinvented himself as an actor and press baron, buying the newspaper La Provence.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stéphane Richard. Photograph: Reuters Photographer/Reuters

In 2007, when Tapie switched sides to support the rightwing Nicolas Sarkozy, he had already spent 20 years pursuing legal action through the courts for compensation from the state, accusing the former state bank Crédit Lyonnais of ripping him off in a business deal to sell the sports brand Adidas, which he once owned.

Once Sarkozy was in office, his finance minister Christine Lagarde, now director of the International Monetary Fund, moved to stop the court action and instead authorised three judges to approve an out-of-court settlementof €400m from the French treasury – more than €280m of which Tapie pocketed, after tax and costs.

The deal outraged opposition politicians, who claimed Lagarde had deliberately authorised an advantageous settlement procedure to reward Tapie for his support for Sarkozy during the 2007 election campaign.

Last year, Lagarde, who denied wrongdoing, was convicted by a special tribunal of negligence regarding the payout but escaped punishment and kept her IMF job.

Tapie, who is now seriously ill, has already been ordered by a court to pay back everything he was awarded.

He and five other people are to stand trial on charges of embezzlement and misuse of public funds. They include Stéphane Richard, who is now head of Orange but was chief of staff to Lagarde at the time of the payout.

Tapie’s defence lawyer Hervé Temime told Reuters: “I’ve been eager to fight this one out … Now all the cards will be on the table and we will be able to establish the truth. Not only was there no fraud but we will also see who was robbed and who did the robbing.”

An Orange spokesman said lawyers had received notice of the trial order but declined to comment further.

