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HMMMMM....Maybe this is a stretch.... Maybe I am reading into this too
deep...But would this have something to do with what is going on in the
mid-east? Strange that this hits the media as we "Boycott" France, as France
pulls out of the war? Maybe some digging on this might uncover a bigger
picture?
Any one with some knowledge or contacts with more info?
OIL-SCANDAL TRIAL OPENS IN FRANCE
March 18, 2003 -- PARIS - Thirty-seven defendants will be asked to explain dirty dealings within France's political and business elite involving the embezzlement of some $200 million and former oil giant Elf at a trial that opened yesterday. The fruit of an eight-year investigation, the trial will expose the use of cash sweeteners to secure contracts for the then state-owned Elf in oil-rich countries, and how some of that cash slipped into the pockets of certain executives. It will also rake up well-known sleaze like the kickbacks from an illegal arms deal secured via a now infamous liaison between then Foreign Minister Roland Dumas and a woman who dubbed herself "The Whore of the Republic." The trial will be keenly watched in France where the affair has stirred up charges of endemic corruption during the last years of the late President Francois Mitterrand.
 Elf was controlled by the state at the time huge sums of cash were allegedly siphoned off into offshore bank accounts between 1989 and 1993. It is now part of French oil major TotalFinaElf, which is negotiating multibillion-dollar deals with Iraq. The trial, which is due to run for around four months, follows the longest investigation in French judicial history. Reuters ************************************************************
"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms
is,
as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government."
-- Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 **************************************** http://www.patriotsforpeace.org/ http://www.winwithoutwarus.org/ http://www.truemajority.org/ http://www.notinourname.net/ http://www.endthewar.org/ http://www.internationalanswer.org/ http://www.peacepledge.org/ http://www.citiesforpeace.org/ ****************************** Ain't Karma A Bitch! |
