Daily Mail, Thursday, March 21, 2013 S1 Page 19 WWW.DAILYmaIL.CO.UK/maC Corruption police raid home of IMF chief From Pater Allen in Paris THE home of International Mone- tary Fund chief Christine Lagarde was raided by anti-corruption police yesterday. It follows claims that she authorised a £270million payout to a prominent Nico- las Sarkozy supporter when she was French finance minister. It is not known what officers seized after entering the £1million Paris apart- ment of the world’s most senior banker. The Court of Justice of the Republic, a tribunal qualified to judge the conduct of government ministers while in office, said Mrs Lagarde, 57, may have abused her position to help a businessman. The case dates back 20 years. Bernard Tapie, former head of Adidas in France, claims he was cheated out of millions by the then state-owned Credit Lyonnais bank when he sold his stake in the sports ‘For heaven’s sake, Bernard. He’s only 12!’ To order your own print of this or any other Mac cartoon, or a Pugh cartoon, visit Mailpictures.newsprints.co.uk or call 020 7566 0360 ‘Too generous’: Mrs Lagarde kit empire in 1993 for around £300mil- Judge pleads guilty lion. Within months the bank sold the company for more than twice that amount, which led to Tapie demanding compensation. Mrs Lagarde is said to have allowed the equivalent of £270million in compensa- tion to be awarded to Tapie in 2008 when Mr Sarkozy was French president and she was finance minister. to being confused Critics said the settlement was too generous. Mrs Lagarde, whose salary as IMF managing director is £300,000, denies wrongdoing. In 1997 Tapie, an ex-government minis- ter, was jailed for match-fixing after own- ing one of France’s biggest football clubs, Olympique de Marseille. by expert witnesses Mrs Lagarde’s lawyer, Yves Repiquet, said: ‘This search will help uncover the truth [and will] help to exonerate my By Graham Grant nesses. Scottish Law Commis- evidence was quite a difficult client from any criminal wrongdoing.’ Home Affairs Editor sion chairman Lady Clark, 64 – task. One wasn’t always helped An IMF spokesman said its executive formerly Edinburgh Pentlands very much by the way the case board had considered the Tapie issue A LEADING judge yester- Labour MP Lynda Clark – was presented or sometimes one when appointing Miss Lagarde and had became a judge in 2006. was left in doubt for a very long been confident she could do her job. day admitted she was Addressing the conference in time as to what the actual dis- bewildered by the evidence Edinburgh, she said judges could pute was about – what were the of some expert witnesses be left confused and bewildered experts disputing about? by the complexity of evidence – ‘If you don’t know that, it’s Retrial finds two at complex trials. while juries’ knowledge of foren- sometimes very difficult to home In candid remarks, Lady sic science such as DNA was in on points that may be of Clark of Calton said that when often sourced from the TV. importance.’ men liable for she became a judge she found She said judges had not had The judge also raised concern disagreements between the same opportunity as lawyers over the amount of information expert witnesses baffling. on opposing sides in the trial to confronting juries during long As a result, she would ‘sit there learn about technical evidence, and complex trials. Lady Clark Omagh attack wondering whatever is coming which left them at a disadvan- said it was ‘very challenging’ to next’ – and trying to work out tage if the evidence was poorly brief a jury about their duties in TWO men have been found responsible what the dispute was about. presented at trial. civil trials, who are also tasked for the Omagh bombing in a landmark The surprising comments were Candid: Lady Clark of Calton The judge said: ‘I’d be sitting with deciding how much money civil case. made by the former Advocate were a ‘ticking timebomb’ which there as judge wondering, “What- should be awarded in damages. Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly faced a General for Scotland at a meet- may have created miscarriages ever is coming next?” Lady Clark said: ‘It’s very diffi- retrial after they successfully appealed ing of the Forensic Science of justice. ‘Sometimes counsel forgot the cult for judges to deal with against a finding of liability made Society. Some of the warnings were judge hadn’t had the advantage expert evidence but there is even It also heard claims from backed up by Lord Advocate they had – of being encouraged more concern about the situa- against them and two other republicans experts that the variable quality Frank Mulholland, Scotland’s to learn about the subject before- tion when 15 citizens are drawn at the end of the original civil case four of evidence from expert wit- most senior law officer, who hand. Although I had had years off our streets and chosen at ran- years ago. nesses – as well as juries’ difficul- admitted he had worked with of experience as an advocate, I dom to sit as juries in a particu- But their second trial delivered the ties in understanding evidence – ‘downright awful’ expert wit- found that dealing with expert lar case.’ same outcome at the Belfast High Court yesterday. Between them, Murphy, Daly, Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt and republican Liam Campbell now owe the 12 bereaved relatives who brought the Council’s £30,000 bill to ‘focus’ bosses case £1.6million in damages. Speaking after the ruling, the victims’ OFFICIALS at a Scottish council were Daily Mail Reporter live in a corporate bubble, oblivious as to families said they had not given up on sent on ‘farcical’ training sessions cost- what happens on the frontline or in local securing a criminal conviction for the ing a total of almost £30,000 to ‘improve and money by the council, which recently communities.’ August 1998 attack that claimed the lives of their focus’. chopped £250,000 from the budget for train- Sharon McKenzie, the council’s head of 29 people, including a woman pregnant Fife Council gave 33 senior staff time off to ing teachers to be more effective. human resources, said the course was pro- go on the £208-a-day course, spending four One council insider said: ‘It is an absolute vided by an outside company. ‘It teaches real with twins. Stanley McCombe, whose wife days working ‘on tools and techniques to farce and typical of the poor leadership of practical techniques to improve decision Anne was killed, added that the families improve their focus on tasks, negotiation the largely unseen £100,000 senior directors. making and productivity which have led to were determined to make the men pay up. and productivity’. The training sessions have ‘The senior management team of Fife significant cost savings in other organisa- However, the civil action could still be been widely condemned as a waste of time Council have no grip on reality and seem to tions,’ she said. subject to another appeal..