Lagarde Has G8 Backing; Hits Back At Inquiry Call

By Helen Massy-Beresford and Yves Clarisse

PARIS

(Reuters) - G8 leaders all back French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde's bid to run the IMF, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Sunday, as the candidate attacked a call to investigate her role in a 2008 legal case that may harm her chances.

France was careful not to speak out about Lagarde's candidacy during a Group of Eight summit in Deauville last week but Juppe said all eight nations were firmly behind Lagarde.