Lagarde says French misconduct case won't affect her IMF job

The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, said on Thursday she had known since 2011 she would be questioned by a French court over an arbitration payment made to a wealthy supporter of former President Nicolas Sarkozy and it would not affect her job at the global financial institution.

"I will be very happy to travel to Paris, but it is not going to change my focus, my attention, my enthusiasm for the work I do," Lagarde told a news conference ahead of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Lagarde said she will be questioned by the court at the end of May in a case involving billionaire Bernard Tapie. She has denied she did anything wrong when she ended a long-running court battle between the state and Tapie by agreeing to arbitration to settle the dispute

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Neil Stempleman)