Disgraced French tycoon loses near record damages

PARIS, Oct 9 (Reuters) France's highest court stripped disgraced tycoon and former government minister Bernard Tapie of near record damages today, ordering a retrial in his 10-year battle over the disputed sale of sports equipment maker Adidas.

In a surprise move, the court rejected the public prosecutor's recommendation Tapie be awarded 145 million euros (183 million dollars) for losses incurred over the 1993 sale of Adidas.

The superior court ruled that there was ''no blatant error by SDBO and Credit Lyonnais,'' the subsidiary and parent bank at the heart of the case.

''It is up to the Appeal Court to completely retry the matter in terms of law and fact,'' ruled the Cour de Cassation, France's highest court of appeal in civil, commercial and criminal cases.

''This could by a Pyrrhic victory ... because if we discuss the offence again before the Appeals Court the compensation could be doubled,'' Tapie's lawyer Maurice Lantourne said.

The Appeals Court ruled in September that Credit Lyonnais had defrauded Tapie by hiding from him that he could have sold his majority stake in Adidas to businessman Robert-Louis Dreyfus for more than the 318 million euros equivalent obtained.

Tapie had given a Credit Lyonnais subsidiary powers to sell his Adidas stake in order to avoid charges of a conflict of interest on joining the Socialist government in 1993.

SDBO bought the shares itself then, in a complex set up using offshore banks, sold them to Dreyfus in December 1994 for 708 million euros. It was later established the bank and Dreyfus had illicitly agreed the sale from the very beginning.

STREETWISE STYLE But Bernard Soltner, lawyer for a group set up to handle Credit Lyonnais' bad debts after its near-collapse, welcomed Monday's ruling: ''It goes against what we've heard for a long time, that the Credit Lyonnais conned Tapie and despoiled the profits. It didn't happen, and that's what this ruling says.'' Today's ruling was the latest setback in the rollercoaster career of Tapie, 63.

From humble origins, he rose to become a self-made millionaire whose good looks and streetwise style saw late Socialist President Francois Mitterrand name him towns minister in the 1990s despite his flamboyant lifestyle.

Mitterrand sought to harness Tapie's popularity to counter the rise of the National Front among working class voters, who were attracted to the businessman's earthy political style.

But his financial woes forced him to quit the government and Tapie was jailed in 1997 under an eight-month sentence over tax fraud and a soccer match fixing scandal involving his football club Olympique Marseille. It was stripped of its 1993 first division title and relegated to a lower division.

In recent times he has reinvented himself as a football pundit and actor, starring as a detective in a popular TV show.

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