The Elf affair - who's who
<a href=news.ft.com>Financial Times By Martin Arnold, Rebecca Cockburn and Robert Graham in Paris Published: April 15 2003 17:45 | Last Updated: April 15 2003 17:45 The biggest corruption trial in French history has started in Paris, with 37 defendants standing accused of accepting nearly €400m ($430m, £271m) from Elf Aquitaine, the former state oil group, for personal enrichment and political kickbacks during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The investigation has taken eight years to reach the court and has already been overshadowed by the earlier trial and acquittal of Roland Dumas, former French foreign minister. But the centrepiece trial, which opened in March and is set to last until July, when it will finally close the book on the corruption that flourished during the final years of François Mitterrand's second term as French president. In 2000 TotalFina, the French oil company, acquired Elf, which is no longer under French state control.
The 37 defendants face varying charges of corruption relating to the misuse of Elf funds. But three have been singled out as particular movers in a network accused of siphoning off money from Elf's oil revenues through offshore and Swiss accounts. They are Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, Elf chief executive from 1989 to 1993; Alfred Sirven, the Elf executive now imprisoned for his role in the secret funding system; and Andre Tarallo, the head of Elf's Gabon subsidiary and principal contact for African leaders.
Several other figures have also become embroiled with "l'affaire Elf", not least Mr Dumas, who was acquitted on appeal; Nadhmi Auchi, a London-based Iraqi billionaire wanted in Paris for questioning over his role in a Spanish oil deal, and Maurice Bidermann, the former textile magnate who is a defendant on the case.
The men at the heart of 'l'affair Elf'
Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, 59, chief executive of Elf from 1989 to 1993
Elf's flamboyant former boss is already serving time in prison as part of a two-and-a-half year jail sentence for his part in the Dumas case, against which he is appealing. So far, he seems to be trying to play the role of victim. Throughout the investigation he has maintained his innocence, complaining of a political conspiracy in his book Affaire Elf, affaire d'Etat published in October 2001. Mr Le Floch-Prigent has denied any knowledge of payments made from slush funds and secret bank accounts, and missed the start of the trial through illness.
Nicknamed le plouc fringant (the smart peasant) for his modest origins and bearded look, he is accused of siphoning off €183m from slush funds during his four years in charge. Specifically, he needs to explain how Alfred Sirven, one of his executives, financed the $9.3m (€8.6m) purchase of a Parisian apartment on his behalf. He also faces allegations of using company funds to pay €1m to his ex-wife as part of their divorce, as well as financing the purchase and upkeep of his chateau des Genette in Orne, north of France.
Alfred Sirven, 76, former director of 'general affairs' at Elf
In the Elf corruption trials staged so far Mr Sirven has always been the missing link: the man fingered as the one who knew how and where the payments were made. He is alleged to have been at the heart of a system of secret offshore accounts - from paying commissions on arms sales to Taiwan and oil contracts in Venezuela to the setting up of the Leuna refinery investment in east Germany and the purchase of oil assets in Spain. He is also accused of siphoning off €168m for a string of purchases, including a villa in Ibiza, a chateau in central France, jewellery, furniture and works of art.
The former French Resistance fighter fled his Geneva home after the Elf scandal broke, and evaded police for three years until his eventual arrest in the Philippines in February 2001. But, in a final act of defiance, he swallowed the chip from his mobile phone before being taken into custody and extradited to France. Already in prison as part of a four-year sentence for his part in the Dumas case, he is thought likely to do a deal with the French authorities to keep quiet, rather than make good on his one-time boast of knowing enough secrets "to blow up the Republic twenty times over".
André Tarallo, 76, former head of Elf-Gabon
The group's "Mr Africa" became France's unofficial ambassador to the region and developed close links with several African leaders, including Gabon's President Omar Bongo and President Eduardo dos Santos of Angola. The former head of Elf-Gabon ran the African subsidiary as an independent fiefdom. Its location in Gabon was no accident: President Omar Bongo was a long-time friend of France whose daughter married the president of Congo-Brazzaville, where Elf picked up exclusive exploration rights.
The man whom African leaders nicknamed the "great baobab" (an African tree) has described an elaborate system of politically-endorsed "commissions" and "subscriptions" used to pay off African heads of state in return for exclusive access to oil reserves and political influence. But he has always denied allegations that he siphoned off about €35.6m to pay for, amongst other things, a Corsican villa, a €1.2m apartment on Paris' Quai d'Orsay, and a collection of fine art. The Corsican-born classmate of Jacques Chirac at Paris' elite Ecole Nationale d'Administration claims he was only "managing" the huge sums of money that passed through his various Swiss bank accounts on behalf of African leaders.
Other figures caught up in 'l'affaire Elf'
Nadhmi Auchi, 65, a London-based Iraqi billionaire
The prominent Iraqi-born UK citizen has been arrested and released on bail after voluntarily presenting himself to a central London police station. An international arrest warrant, issued by France in 2000, is belatedly being enforced by UK police and Mr Auchi made his first appearance in a British court on April 8. He has been asked to reappear before the Bow Street magistrates' court in central London on May 20 after the judge remanded the case for six weeks.
The French judiciary want to question him on the legality of an illicit €39.2m commission on Elf's purchase of Cepsa-Ertoil, the Spanish oil group in 1991. Ertoil changed hands from the Kuwait Investment Office and ended up being owned by Elf, but French investigators are keen to question Mr Auchi about sweeteners he allegedly received from Elf as part of the deal, in which he temporarily held the Ertoil shares.
While he admits earning a "commission" on the deal, he denies charges of corruption and says he has always been willing to co-operate with police. His extradition to France could be embarrassing for Tony Blair's Labour government, which has close ties with Mr Auchi. He is one of Britain's richest men and owns General Mediterranean Holding, an opaque £1.2bn business empire ranging from shipping to hotels. He is believed to have been advising British ministers on Iraq and to have sought a role in a postwar Iraqi administration. A number of British politicians have served on the boards of his companies, including former Foreign Office minister Keith Vaz and former Conservative chancellor Norman Lamont.
Maurice Bidermann, 68, former president of textiles group Bidermann
Nicknamed "the king of the Sentier" after the Paris rag-trade district, the former chairman of the Bidermann textiles group became the subject of a 1994 stock market probe into how Elf came to invest FFr787m (€120m) in his ailing company between 1989 and 1993, at the behest of the socialist government. A close friend of Elf boss Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, he is suspected of having personally benefited from the oil group's investment in his company to the tune of about FFr60m.
Much of the money invested in Bidermann to prevent its bankruptcy was channelled through offshore accounts. Mr Le Floch-Prigent, who sat on Bidermann's board, and his wife allegedly received numerous gifts from the textile magnate, including expensive holidays at the Hamptons in Long Island, a plush London flat and cash payments. The former Israeli army officer is also accused of taking part in a string of money-siphoning schemes at the Elf group, including helping to fund the purchase of a Parisian apartment for his friend Mr Le Floch-Prigent and channelling funds to his friend's ex-wife as part of their divorce settlement.
Roland Dumas, 80, former French foreign minister
For five years the former French foreign minister's name dominated the headlines in the Elf affair. However, Roland Dumas' role in the Elf scandal was limited to a peripheral part of the main judicial investigation. He was tried separately for allegedly profiting from Elf's largesse and was acquitted on appeal. Accusations of being party to corrupt payments made by Elf to his ex-mistress, Christine Deviers-Joncour, led Mr Dumas to resign from his prestigious position as president of the constitutional council. Ms Deviers-Joncour's perks, working for Elf, included a €3m Parisian apartment which she allegedly chose with Mr Dumas.
She further undermined Mr Dumas' reputation - a close associate of the late president François Mitterrand - by writing a bestseller, Whore of the Republic. However, she helped his eventual acquittal from his original two-and-a-half-year sentence by revealing he never profited from the apartment and only ever passed by for coffee. Mr Dumas has since said his only mistake was in allowing himself to fall "victim of foul schemings" and in trusting a justice system which failed him at the outset. He has sought to restore his reputation by writing a book, L'Epreuve - les preuves.