PARIS — IMF chief Christine Lagarde’s future was at stake Friday as French prosecutors grilled her for a second day to decide if she should be charged over a state payout to a disgraced tycoon when she was finance minister.



Lagarde was questioned for 12 hours on Thursday over her 2007 handling of a row that resulted in 400 million euros ($515 million) being paid to controversial business figure Bernard Tapie.



Lagarde has downplayed the investigation, but the stakes are high for both her and the International Monetary Fund, which has expressed confidence in its first woman leader.



She could eventually be named an assisted witness, whose status falls between that of simple witness and formal investigation and implies there is some evidence against the person questioned, or placed under investigation — the closest equivalent in French law to being charged. But she would not be automatically forced to resign from the IMF if she is charged. The chic Lagarde, considered one of the world’s most powerful women, won respect as France’s first female finance minister for her no-nonsense style, intellect and style.



She greeted journalists but did not make any statements upon her arrival at the courthouse on Friday. Criminal charges against Lagarde would mark the second straight scandal for an IMF chief, after her predecessor Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also from France, resigned in disgrace in 2011 over an alleged assault on a New York hotel maid.



The IMF reiterated its support on Thursday, with a spokesman saying: “The executive board has been briefed on that matter, including recently, and continues to express its confidence in the managing director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties.” — AFP