The head of the International Monetary Fund stands trial in France on Monday accused of negligence leading to a misuse of public funds when she was the country’s finance minister.<br /><br /> If convicted, Christine Lagarde could face up to a year in jail and a fine of 15,000 euros. A guilty verdict would also risk plunging the IMF into a leadership crisis.<br /><br /> On Sunday she said she was confident she had done nothing wrong.<br /><br /> The court in Paris will seek to determine her role in a 400 million euro payment to French businessman Bernard Tapie in an out-of-court settlement.<br /><br /> He had sued the French state, claiming a nationalised bank had defrauded him after he sold his stake in a sports company in the 1990s. <br /><br /> Arbitration judges backed him but appeals courts have since overturned the settlement in his favour.<br /><br /> Lagarde rejects suggestions that she acted on the orders of the then president Nicolas Sarkozy.or had otherwise favoured the businessmen.<br /><br /> The special court hearing the case tries ministers for crimes in office and meets only very rarely.<br />
