A French court is to investigate new IMF chief Christine Lagarde for abuse of authority when she was French finance minister. The court made the decision after meeting for several hours to discuss a preliminary inquiry. Prosecutors said Ms Lagarde abused her authority by approving a 406 million dollar payment to businessman Bernard Tapie, a former left-wing minister who switched sides to support Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election. Ms Lagarde denies misconduct. According to reports, the move is embarrassing for Ms Lagarde, who has been in the job for one month, but no indication of her guilt or otherwise. Ms Lagarde took over as managing director from Dominique Strauss-Kahn in July, following his arrest in May on charges of the attempted rape of a New York hotel maid.