Orange CEO in Custody for French Arbitration Probe
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Stephane Richard, chief executive officer of France Telecom SA, also known as Orange, was taken into custody today for questioning in a case involving an arbitration that benefited a supporter of former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Richard was chief of staff of former Finance Minister Christine Lagarde when the Bernard Tapie arbitration decision was made. He can be held for as long as 24 hours in the first phase of the process, before prosecutors determine whether they want to question him further, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman at the Paris Prosecutor’s office, said in a telephone interview.