Posted on 07/09/2006 8:00:57 AM PDT by RKV
When an anonymous letter-writer exposed corruption in France’s defence industry, a sinister drama unfolded, involving the Russian mafia and a chain of unexplained violent deaths. And the trail leads all the way to Chirac himself.
The twilight years of Jacques Chirac’s France have not been easy for the French state. It has endured economic decline, ethnic tension and vicious infighting among its political elite. Now the electorate is gripped by a political and financial scandal, with potentially grave if not cataclysmic consequences that may stretch as far as the Elysée Palace. At the heart of the scandal is an anonymous writer of poison-pen letters, a peculiar practice that is part of a long tradition in rural France.
.... whose pen has already had a hitherto-unimaginable political impact, turns out not to be a disgruntled peasant but one of France’s most brilliant brains, a product of France’s elite Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) and Stanford business school. He is Jean-Louis Gergorin, the country’s most renowned defence strategist and a former distinguished official in the French foreign ministry, whose friends include chief political movers, business leaders and strategic thinkers.
In 2004, Gergorin, 60, sent letters to a judge, accusing top politicians and prominent businessmen in the defence industries of laundering the proceeds of organised crime and huge arms deals through secret foreign bank accounts. His letters have triggered a scandal of byzantine complexity: in common with Watergate, the scandal may have implications at the top of the executive. The political fallout is substantial. Dominique de Villepin, the aristocratic prime minister and President Jacques Chirac’s chosen successor, could fall after being accused of trying to exploit Gergorin’s information in order to damage his rival Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the 2007 presidential elections. Other top heads could well roll as the judicial investigation gathers pace.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
France has a long, apparently proud tradition of official corruption involving the arms industry. French intelligence agencies have routinely spied on the business rivals of French companies. They are quite brazen about it.
I hadn't heard any serious allegations involving organized crime before, though.
I don't know who I distrust more Chirac or de Villepin. ok, de Villepin - he's younger...
does anyone see better days ahead (even though there's little press coverage) with:
*the uncovering of more and more WMD in Iraq,
*the IAEA story in Iran - where the IAEA is using Nuclear and Weapon in the same sentence --
*this old French intrigue being written about STILL ...
*new at least less liberal leadership in Canada and Mexico...
*NK and Hamas doing stupid things that make it hard for their allies to defend actions...
*a bit of anti Hamas news in the ME opinion pages...
if anything, it seems to be keeping the MSM on their toes a bit more - changing subjects, trying to find something new that will stick. It seems they're finding other things to cover.
The next thing that needs more investigation is the terrorists use of the media for their own purposes. Very clever, and smart. suck the MSM right in - re: the military abuses -- how much of that is made up? We're busy defending that, not doing other things more proactive.
just some Sunday morning musings....
Not quite as many deaths as during the Clinton years, but still a good movie plot.
Francocide came first. Then Arkancide. Heh.
How silly. Why don't the French just legalize defense dept contract corruption like in the States?
mark
I would be hard pressed to find legalized corruption in the US defense procurement system. Certainly there are some sharp practices (e.g. requirements definition that favors one vendor over another, etc.) but I doubt you can demonstrate murder as an instrument of defense industry sales (or coverup of sales practices [e.g. bribes]). If you have some examples I would be interested to hear of them. The only one that comes to mind is the Loral missile info to China deal, but that was nominally "legal." IRRC. We tend to prosecute folks who take bribes - see Congressman Randy Cunningham for example.
I believe they illegally sold us arms during the revolutionary war.
Their actions during our Revolutionary War were entirely cynical and self-serving. Since then they have been our enemy outright.
Maybe. But the revolving door of Colonels, Generals and senior civilians retiring and getting fat retirement jobs from contractors in return for favors is serious corruption that is ignored. I see it all the time. Colonels retire on Friday and are back working for a contractor on Monday. It's disgusting.
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