Paris – A Paris court yesterday convicted three former executives for misappropriating money from state-run oil company Elf and sentenced them to prison in one of the largest graft scandals ever to hit France. Former Elf chairman Loik Le Floch-Prigent and former director Alfred Sirven were sentenced to five years in prison; Le Floch-Prigent, was, fined €375000 (R2.98 million); Sirven was also fined €1 million. Andre Tarallo, another executive known as Eif’s ‘Mr Africa’, was sentenced to four years and fined €2 million. They were among 37 people on trial since March for their roles in what prosecutors said was the embezzlement of about €300 million from Elf during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Le Floch-Prigent and Sirven are both already serving time after losing appeals earlier this year against separate convictions over corruption at Elf. Le Floch-Prigent's ex-wife Fatima Belaid was found guilty of receiving €4.6 million from Elf in ex- change for her silence after the couple divorced. She was sentenced to three years, of which two were suspended, and fined €1 million. Le Floch-Prigent used Elf money to buy and renovate an apartment in Paris. Sirven also said he had appropriated €6 million from Elf, a small fraction of the €107 million alleged, to support his sumptuous lifestyle. The defendants argued that upon joining Elf, they became part of a pre-existing system of bribes, commissions and fixing fees paid to foreign officials. Le Floch-Prigent, Sirven and Tarallo refused
to name the recipients of alleged political payments in France throughout
four months of hearings. - Sapa-AP |