POLITICS-FRANCE: Dollars Stuffed into Monsieur Africa's Salad

Julio Godoy PARIS, Jun 9 (<a href=www.ipsnews.net>IPSNews) - Prosecution has demanded heavy jail sentences for former bosses of the oil giant Elf Aquitaine over their dealings in Africa. Prosecutor Catherine Pignon asked a Paris court to sentence André Tarallo, formerly the company's top manager for Africa affairs, to eight years imprisonment and to impose a fine of 5.8 million dollars. This is the first move by the prosecution against the top bosses of the company. Tarallo, 76, who came to be known as Elf Aquitaine's 'Monsieur Africa', managed the company's business in Africa for 20 years from the late seventies. The prosecution demand came following lengthy investigations begun in 1994 into suspect dealings of the former state oil company between 1989 and 1993 both in France and abroad. ”Your culpability demands exemplary punishment,” Pignon told 37 accused. Pignon called several deals by Elf executives ”systematic opportunism”, and said its ”illegal embezzlement (of the company's funds) were not casual affairs.” Prosecution sought a similar sentence against Alfred Sirven, former director- general of Elf, and a five-year sentence with a fine of 400,000 dollars against Loik Le Floch Prigent, the former CEO (chief executive officer). ”These three people (Le Floch Prigent, Sirven, and Tarallo) took care that the corruption system worked smoothly,” Pignon told the court last week. The prosecution has accused the three executives of embezzlement of 350 million dollars of the company's funds for personal enrichment or to pay for illegal commissions to politicians. Tarallo stands accused of stealing at least 50 million dollars, and of misusing his position in handling the company's African affairs. Elf Aquitaine was founded in 1965 by Gen Charles de Gaulle as a state- owned company. The company was privatised in 1999 following reports of rampant corruption. It was taken over by another French giant, TotalFina. Experts and former executives say French secret services controlled Elf Aquitaine from the start, and took on the task of creating conditions to the advantage of Elf in oil-rich former colonies. ”The secret services' control over Elf Aquitaine led to coups d'état in several African countries, especially in Gabon and Congo Brazzaville,” Francois-Xavier Verschave, author of several books on French African policy told IPS. Loik Le Floch Prigent has presented the defence that bribery and influence peddling are a part of oil operations all over the world. ”The whole oil system functions in an opaque way,” Le Floch Prigent said during the hearings. ”The obscure affairs at Elf didn't begin with my presidency, nor did they end when I left.” He also claimed that all French heads of state since 1965 knew that Elf Aquitaine paid illegal commissions to guarantee easy access to oil sources. French investigators had until recently avoided looking into Elf's African affairs. This policy changed early last year. Prosecution found that Tarallo maintained several bank accounts with names such as Tomato, Salad, Langouste, Colette, or Centuri in tax havens around the world, including Panama, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Colette is the name of his wife, and Centuri is his native village. Tarallo claimed during the hearing that he managed these accounts on behalf of African heads of state. He particularly named Omar Bongo, President of Gabon. Asked by judge Michel Desplan why he had named accounts after his wife and his village and not after Bongo, Tarallo said he gave these names in order to recall them more easily. Bongo, who rules the former French African colony since a coup d'état in 1967, denied any benefits from Tarallo's accounts. Bongo told the weekly Jeune Afrique that Tarallo had used him as ”an umbrella to protect himself.” Bongo said that Tarallo had tried to use the umbrella too long, and by now ”it has got holes.” He added: ”Tarallo is soaked now.” Tarallo's lawyers reject the prosecution's case against him. ”He is simply innocent,” his lawyer Guillaume Le Foyer de Costil said after the hearings last week. Lawyers defending Le Flock Prigent and Sirven have also called the prosecution case against their clients ”unjustified”. The prosecution has sought lower prison sentences and fines for the other accused over their dealings in Venezuela, Spain, Germany, and in several Eastern European, Central Asian and African countries.