A special French court on Thursday ordered Christine Lagarde , the managing director of the International Monetary Fund , to stand trial on charges of negligence that date back to when she served as France 's finance minister, the second time in five years that a top French I.M.F. official has faced legal scrutiny.<br />The order by the French Court of Justice could mean that Ms. Lagarde will be embroiled in a potentially lengthy process to address accusations that she acted negligently while overseeing a politically charged 2007 arbitration case, when the state awarded a payout of 404 million euros, about $441 million at current exchange rates, to a flamboyant French tycoon, Bernard Tapie.<br />The I.M.F. did not comment on whether Ms. Lagarde, who is the first woman to lead it, would be required to recuse herself from her post during the trial.<br />But the I.M.F. board was aware of Ms. Lagarde's legal entanglement when she was appointed in June 2011 to take the helm from Dominique Strauss-Kahn, another former French finance minister seen as a contender for the French presidency before he was forced to resign his post at the I.M.F. amid a sex scandal.
