Pasqua questioned in Saddam oil-for-food inquiry

By Martin Arnold
April 6, 2006
The Financial Times
Original Source: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0a93cb12-c5b5-11da-b675-0000779e2340.html

Charles Pasqua, one of France’s leading politicians in the 1980s, on Thursday said he had been put under investigation by a Paris investigating judge for allegedly profiting from corruption in the United Nations oil-for-food programme for Iraq.
The 78-year-old former interior minister repeated previous denials that he had received oil vouchers from Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime in return for political influence. He said he was appealing to have the investigation withdrawn.
The investigation of Mr Pasqua will add to growing alarm in Parisian diplomatic and political circles about the damage being done to France’s image by the independent inquiry, which has already charged a handful of senior French officials.
A former close ally of President Jacques Chirac, he has been a central figure in French politics for three decades. Described as the man who knows all the secrets, he was interior minister twice, first in the late 1980s when Mr Chirac was prime minister, and again in the early 1990s.
As a senator in the upper house of parliament, Mr Pasqua enjoys immunity from prosecution. But this does not prevent him being investigated or charged. He was questioned on Wednesday by the judge, Philippe Courroye.
Mr Courroye has also launched an investigation into 40 French companies suspected of having paid commissions to Saddam Hussein’s regime in return for lucrative contracts as part of the oil-for-food programme.
Jean-Bernard Mérimée, France’s former UN ambassador, was last year released on bail after being charged with corruption and bribery of foreign officials after allegations that he received oil vouchers from the Iraqi regime. Four executives from Total, the French oil group, have been charged with fraud.