This is a tough summer for the International Monetary Fund. Following former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's sexual assault scandal, the new chief Christine Lagarde is facing a possible investigation.

A special French court will decide on Friday whether to investigate Lagarde's role in securing a 285-million-euro arbitration deal for a controversial businessman. She was France's finance minister at the time of the 2008 arbitration deal for Bernard Tapie.

Tapie won what critics called a too-generous private settlement with a French state-owned bank over the mishandled sale of sportswear maker Adidas in the 1990s.

A French prosecutor said he had reason to suspect Largarde overstepped her authority in the deal. Lagarde said on France-24 television this week that whatever the court decides, "she has the exact same confidence, and same sense of calm." A legal expert summed up the case against her.

Paul Bishop, legal analyst, said, "Lagarde is being criticized on three grounds. First, that she submitted this matter to a private arbitration panel. Secondly, that she did not challenge the independence of one of the arbitrators, and thirdly that she did not appeal the arbitration decision, which was in favor of Mr Tapie."