![]() ![]() Takieddine told judges in 2013 that he participated in the secret financing of Balladur's campaign after being asked by Bazire and Gaubert, though he retracted the claim six years later. Thierry Gaubert, an adviser to Sarkozy at the finance ministry, and a former executive at state-owned naval contractor DCN (since renamed Naval Group) received two-year sentences. In 1957 Balladur began his public career when. He received diplomas in law and political science, in addition to a degree from the prestigious École Nationale d’Administration. ![]() Takieddine fled to Lebanon last June after a Paris court sentenced him and another middleman, Abdul Rahman El-Assir, to five years in prison over their role in the Karachi kickbacks.īalladur's former campaign manager Nicolas Bazire was given a three-year sentence by the same court, as was Leotard's adviser Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. Balladur was born on May 2, 1929, in Izmir (Smyrna), Turkey, into a wealthy banking family, and he grew up in Marseille after the family relocated to France in 1935. Investigators say that cash deposits in Balladur's campaign fund coincided with trips to Switzerland by Ziad Takieddine, a Lebanese-French intermediary who has long been active in French right-wing circles. The ex-premier also stands charged with instructing the budget ministry - led at the time by Sarkozy - to approve state guarantees for "deficient or underfunded" contracts, because of the alleged kickbacks. Leotard is accused of having created an "opaque network" of intermediaries for the contracts signed with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. ![]() The claims came to light during an investigation into a 2002 bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, which targeted a bus transporting French engineers.įifteen people were killed, including 11 engineers working on the submarine contract, and the Al-Qaeda terror network was initially suspected of the attack.īut the focus later shifted to the submarines deal as investigators considered whether the bombing may have been revenge for Chirac's decision to halt commission payments for the arms deals shortly after he beat Balladur in the presidential vote. In particular, the inquiry found a cash injection of 10.25 million francs - mostly in 500-franc bills - just as Balladur's team was scrambling after his defeat in the first round of voting.īalladur, who also has to answer to a charge that he concealed the crimes, has denied any wrongdoing, saying the 10 million francs came from the sale of T-shirts and other items at campaign rallies. Investigators discovered an estimated 13 million francs in kickbacks from the deals, now worth some 2.8 million euros ($3.3 million), after accounting for inflation.Ī large chunk of the money is suspected to have been funnelled to Balladur's 1995 presidential bid, while he was serving as prime minister in the final years of Francois Mitterrand's presidency, in a case known as the "Karachi affair". Edouard Balladur, left, and his former defence chief Francois Leotard are accused of orchestrating an illicit campaign finance scheme / © ![]()
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