Curtain up on final act of French bribery saga

The Times ^ | March 18, 2003 | Charles Bremner

[MadIvan]

A PARIS court has begun to hear the case against 37 defendants at the heart of the Elf-Aquitaine corruption saga, a scandal that has tainted leaders in France and beyond.

The trial of Loik Le Floch-Prigent, a former Elf boss, and his associates, which began yesterday after an eight-year investigation, marks the final act of an affair that laid bare a system of state-sanctioned bribery and personal enrichment at the formerly state-owned oil concern.

The Elf executives and other defendants are alleged to have embezzled and otherwise abused £140 million in the late 1980s and early 1990s in schemes that ranged from the bribery of leaders of African states to the payment of millions of pounds of illicit funds over the purchase of the Leuna oil refinery in Germany. The exposure three years ago of the 1992 Leuna bribes helped to tarnish the reputation of Helmut Kohl, the former German Chancellor.

Le Floch-Prigent, 59, Alfred Sirven, 76, his chief “fixer”, and André Tarallo, 75, Elf’s Africa chief, are charged with pocketing millions from the slush funds deployed by Elf when it was allegedly run as a cash machine by the Mitterrand Government. Le Floch-Prigent, who was absent from court yesterday because of ill- health, is, among other offences, accused of using Elf funds to pay £10,000 a month in maintenance to his ex-wife and to buy homes in Paris and London. Last month he began a 30-month jail term after being convicted of bribery in a case involving Roland Dumas, the former Foreign Minister.

M Dumas was acquitted on appeal, but jail terms were upheld for Sirven, Tarallo and Christine Deviers-Joncour, the lover of M Dumas. Sirven, who was extradited two years ago from the Philippines, once boasted that he knew enough to “blow up the State ten times over”, but disclosed nothing explosive in two earlier trials.

In the 1,100-page indictment the investigating judges voiced frustration at the State’s refusal to co-operate on the ground of secrecy. Elf, which is now the publicly quoted company TotalFinaElf, had also been unforthcoming, they said. The main defendants and M Dumas have argued that Elf had just been playing a longstanding role as a source of clandestine state finances. The leaders of Gabon, Angola and Congo and other African states are mentioned in the indictment as recipients of bribes.

The investigators said that there was proof of “a large number of operations carried out on the margins of normal functioning of the group’s structures and destined . . . to collect assets off the books”.

Le Floch-Prigent told the investigators that when appointed by François Mitterrand in 1989 he had asked the President: “Do you want me to turn off the tap?” M Mitterrand had replied: “Oh, no. We will carry on with the arrangements put into place by General de Gaulle.”

Le Floch-Prigent, who ran Elf until 1993 and now depicts himself as a scapegoat, said two years ago that “all Presidents of the Republic, all their chiefs of staff, were informed about the sums and the destination countries . . . (President) Chirac knows everything I know, exactly as Mitterrand did.”

M Mitterrand had, he said, approved the payment of £20 million in secret commissions to Germany in the German oil refinery deal.

M Dumas, who was M Mitterrand’s Foreign Minister for seven years, said last month that Elf had “gradually turned into a milch cow. Its capital was used to reward African heads of state, but also — one thing leading to another — to bail out certain empty coffers.”

This was taken as further confirmation that funds had been switched back from Elf’s vast foreign bribery machine to the coffers of French political parties.

Executives at TotalFinaElf say that the corruption affair was an aberration involving individuals that was brought to an end nearly a decade ago. The company has been in the news lately because of the billions of pounds’ worth of prospective Iraqi oil contracts it has concluded in recent years.

The trial is expected to run until mid-July.

[MadIvan]

Just something to throw back in the face of the French the next time they are haughty about the superiority of their government.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Diogenesis]

AXIS OF EVIL UPDATE, N'EST PAS 3/16/03:

In Beit Hanoun, north Gaza, Palestinian terrorists wave French and German flags
and Saddam Hussein's portrait as the Axis of Evil fully declares itself
the enemies of America.
This was one day after President Bush offered the Palestinians a state, only yesterday.

---

In Khan Younis, south Gaza,Palestinian terrorists burn American, Israeli and British flags
as they chant for murder, kill, death; as is their way - and that of Germany and France (its puppet).

[Grampa Dave]

Lets help this deranged and mentally ill country of frogs commit social suicide.

Just $crew the Frogs with buycotts for the rest of this decade. Here is a simple list of products not to buy:

A little list of French companies and their products to avoid for the rest of this decade. Please keep this list and send it to your relatives, friends and fellow conservatives via e and snail mail!

*New additions to the list thanks to Freepers. If you have an addition, Freepmail me with the URL showing French ownership.

Air France
Air Liquide
Airbus
Alcatel - Based in Paris France
Allegra (Allergy Medication) - Produced by Aventis Pharmaceuticals based in Strasbourg, France
Aqualung (Including: Spirotechnique, Technisub, US Divers, and SeaQuest)
AXA Advisors
Bank of the West - Owned by BNP Paribas
Beneteau (boats)
BF Goodrich - Owned by Michelin
BIC (Razors, Pens & Lighters) - Started in 1945 by Marcel Bich. Originally based just outside of Paris. Began trading on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1972. 40.5% Publicly traded. Bich family still owns 33.5%.
Biotherm (Cosmetics)
Black Bush
Bollinger (Champagne)
*Browning Firearms**
Car & Driver Magazine
Cartier
Chanel
Chivas Regal (Scotch)
Christian Dior
Club Med (Vacations) - Owned in part by Paris based CDC (Caisse des Dépôts
et Consignations)
Culligan (owned by Vivendi)
Dannon (Yogurt & Dairy Foods)
*Decatholon Super Sport Stores or MVP Sport Stores*
* Dassault Systemes-(CATIA design software)*
DKNY - LVMH acquired 100% of Gabrielle Studio Inc., the privately owned licenser of Donna Karan trademarks back in 2001.
*DMC THREADS
Dom Perignon
Durand Crystal
Elle Magazine
*Emile Henry French Cookware
Essilor Optical Products
Evian
Fina Gas Stations
Fina Oil - Billions invested in Iraqi Oil fields
First Hawaiian Bank
George Magazine
Givenchy
*Grey Goose Vodka
*Groupe Shneider, owner of Modicon and Square D
*Guerlain Fragrances
Hennessy
Houghton Mifflin (books)
International Herald Tribune - 181 ave Charles-de-Gaulle - F-92521 Neuilly - FRSource:World Business Council for Sustainable Development '00 [Domain Registration], [Corporate Profile]
Jacobs Creek - Owned by Pernod Ricard since 1989
Jameson (wiskey)
Jerry Springer (talk show)
Krups (coffee and cappaccino makers)
Lancome
Le Creuset (Cookware)
L'Oreal (Health & Beauty Products)
Louis Vuitton
Marie Claire
Martel Cognac
Maybelline
Méphisto (Footwear & Apparel)
Michelin (Tires & Auto Parts) - Their phone number is: (33) 1 45 66 15 53 in France
Mikasa Crystal and Glass (purchased by ARC int'l in 2001)
Moet (Champagne)
Motel 6 - 33, Avenue du Maine- 75755 Paris Cedex 15 France
Motown Records
MP3.com
Mumms (Champagne)
Nissan (Cars) - Majority owned by Renault
Nivea
Normany Butter
Parents Magazine
Peugeot (Automobiles) - Pronounced "Pooh Joe", must be French
Pierre Cardin
Playstation Magazine
ProScan - Owned by Thomson Electronics, France
Publicis Group (Including: Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising)
RCA (televisions & electronics) - Owned by Thomson Electronics, France
Red Magazine
Red Roof Inns - Owned by the Accor group based in France
Renault (Automobiles)
Road & Track Magazine
Roquefort Cheese - All Roquefort cheese is made in France
Rowenta (Toasters, Irons, Coffee makers, etc)
Royal Canadian
Salomon (Skis)
Seagram's Gin
Sierra Software and Computer Games
Sofitel (Hotels) - Owned by the Accor group based in France
Sparkletts (Water) - Owned by Danone, based in France
Spencer Gifts
Sundance Channel
Taylor Made (Golf)
Technicolor
T-Fal (Kitchenware)
The Glenlivet (Scotch
Total Gas Stations
UbiSoft (Computer Games)
Uniroyal
Uniroyal Tires - Owned by Michelin
Universal Studios (Music, Movies & Theme Parks) - Universal Studios is owned by Vivendi-Universal, headquartered in Paris France
USFilter
Veritas Group
Veuve Clicquot Champagne
Vittel
Vivendi - Vivendi Headquarters, Paris France
Wild Turkey (bourbon)
*Winchester Firearms (US Repeating Arms)**
Woman's Day Magazine
Yoplait - France-based Sodiaal owns a 50% stake of Yoplait
Yves Saint Laurent
*Yves Rocher Cosmetics
*ZigZag (tobacco papers and roller products)*
Zodiac Inflatable Boats

*New additions to the list thanks to Freepers. If you have an addition, Freepmail me with the URL showing French ownership.

** Sad news but these two companies are owned by the Belgian Company Herstal, (French Light)

I'm asking for volunteers to create a good product list of alternative products. If you are an expert in a category or would like start a list of American or Ally products/services, let me know. I will list the alternative category and have your freeper name as the list keeper. That way people can freep you for your list. Once you get it set up and have a master copy in your FreepMail, you can just copy it for each reply to the request.

[expatpat]

Wasn't Chirac supposedly involved in this one?

[polemikos]

Just something to throw back in the face of the French the next time they are haughty about the superiority of their government.

Aren't you assuming that they're affected by rational discourse?

[witnesstothefall]

So is it reasonable to assume that TotalFinaElf owns Chirac? If I read this correctly, and added to the combined facts of Total's contracts for existing and developing Iraqi oilfields, this explains just about everything that needs explaining about French politics.

Public corruption on this scale is always, ALWAYS, accompanied by personal corruption in corresponding proportions. The French, it appears, are truly rotten to the core. We should abandon this fiction of an alliance with a people we no longer can trust even a little (if we ever really did at all).

[XBob]

bttt

7-"So is it reasonable to assume that TotalFinaElf owns Chirac? If I read this correctly, and added to the combined facts of Total's contracts for existing and developing Iraqi oilfields, this explains just about everything that needs explaining about French politics. "