Oil scandal billionaire tells French court of bribes (Froggie Alert)

The Guardian ^ | 5/7/03 | Paul Webster and Martin Bright

[LdSentinal]

An Iraqi-born British billionaire told a French court yesterday how he had paid millions of pounds in kickbacks to French oil executives.

Nadhmi Auchi, 65, reputedly Britain's seventh-richest man, is one of 37 company administrators and business partners accused of being involved in France's biggest postwar financial scandal in which the oil firm, now TotalFinaElf, allegedly paid out huge sums in bribes and backhanders to expand its empire.

Mr Auchi gave himself up in London after two years resisting French demands for his arrest in connection with Elf's purchase in the 90s of interests in Spanish refineries owned by Cepsa, and petrol stations belonging to Ertoil.

The prosecution has alleged that Mr Auchi, whose brothers were murdered by Saddam Hussein, received illegal commissions then worth about £30m, half of which he redistributed to go-betweens.

Yesterday Mr Auchi explained to a court how his company, General Mediterranean Holdings, was paid more than 3bn pesetas in commission for buying the Spanish Ertoil refinery for the French oil giant in 1991.

Sweating profusely in the heat of the packed courtroom at the Palais de Justice he confirmed that his company received the money and, more extraordinarily, that 1.4bn pesetas was paid back to Elf, or rather to the senior executives who had set up the deal.

This massive retro-commission, more commonly known as a kickback, first found its way into the bank account of Alfred Sirven, then Elf's head of special operations, and was then distributed in chunks to various other executives, including the company's president, Loik le Flock-Prigent.

Both Sirven and Le Flock-Prigent have already received prison sentences for their roles in the Elf affair.

Constantly mopping his brow with his handkerchief, Auchi stated that he was told by Elf representatives that the deal would be "good for Elf and good for France".

Asked by the president of the court, Michel Desplan, whether he thought it strange that Elf would pay him more than 3bn pesetas in commission but that 1.4bn had to be paid back to the company, Mr Auchi said that he had been dealing with a French state company and so he assumed everything was above board.

Mr Le Flock-Prigent had earlier explained that the Ertoil purchase was part of a wider Elf strategy to get a foothold in the Spanish market. The ultimate aim was to get a presence for Elf on service station forecourts across Spain ahead of competitors such as Shell, BP, Conoco and their main French rival Total.

The case is expected to last four months.

[McGavin999]

Corruption and the french. Nothing new to see here.

[blanknoone]

Mr Auchi said that he had been dealing with a French state company and so he assumed everything was above board.

LOL!