Total chief questioned on alleged corruption
The head of France's biggest listed company, oil group Total SA, is being questioned by police in a probe into alleged corruption in Iran, a spokesman for the company confirmed yesterday.
Christophe de Margerie (below), who only moved up to the chief executive's post at Total last month, has been under investigation for several months by French judges probing corruption allegations linked to the Iraqi oil-for-food programme and a gas project in Iran.
The Total spokesman said the questioning related to a probe opened in December 2006 related to the South Pars natural gas project in Iran.
Last October, he had already been put under formal investigation in the Iraq probe after being held in custody for 48 hours and then released.
It is common practice in France for a suspect to be held for questioning, after which the judge may or may not file formal charges.
De Margerie was head of exploration and production at Total before succeeding Thierry Desmarest as chief executive.
On February 14, a day after he was confirmed in his new post, de Margerie told a news conference: "I would like to underline it's just an inquiry and there has been no outcome. I am calmly waiting for that."
It was alleged that funds identified in Switzerland might have been paid illegally by executives of Total from 1996 to 2003 to win the gas contract in Iran.
The French regional newspaper Est Republicain reported that Margerie would be questioned in connection with an inquiry begun on January 8 into suspected "corruption of foreign agents" relating to the production and marketing of oil from Cameroon.
The two inquiries resulted from information provided in November 2006 by a unit at the economy and finance ministry charged with fighting money laundering, called Tracfin.
Agencies-AFP
(China Daily 03/22/2007 page16)
