French Court Begins Corruption Trial of Former FM DumasThe French judicial authorities Jan.22 opened the trial of former Foreign Minister Roland Dumas and six other people for suspected corruption.Among the six people on trial at the Correctional Tribunal of Paris are the former girlfriend of Dumas, Christian Deviers- Joncour, former president of the Elf-Aquitaine oil group Loik Le Floch Prigent, and the former No.2 figure of Elf-Aquitaine Alfred Sirven, who has fled to the Philippines. Dumas is suspected of using his influence as foreign minister under President Francois Mitterrand to have Deviers-Joncour enrolled on Elf's payroll. Dumas is also accused of having spent part of the 64.5 million francs (9 million U.S. dollars) of commissions received by Deviers- Joncour from Elf from 1989 to 1993. Dumas was believed to have arranged the sale of six Lafayette frigates made by the French company Thomson CSF to Taiwan in 1993 in order to receive kick-backs from the deal. Dumas has denied all these accusations, some of which were made by Deviers-Joncour. |
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