News / France

French ex-PM Édouard Balladur goes on trial over corruption

Tuesday, 19 January 2021 6:31 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 19 January 2021 6:31 PM ]

This file photo, taken in Paris, France, on November 15, 1994, shows the then-French Prime Minister Édouard Balladur (R) talking with Defense Minister François Leotard. (By AFP)

Former French Prime Minister Édouard Balladur has gone on trial over charges of financing his failed presidential campaign in the 1990s with illegal kickbacks from arms deals with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Balladur on Tuesday appeared at the Court of Justice of the Republic, which hears cases involving ministerial misconduct. Also in the dock was Balladur's former defense minister, Francois Leotard, over a case known as the "Karachi affair," which has already seen six people sentenced to prison terms.

In 2017, the pair was charged with "complicity in the misuse of corporate assets" over the sale of frigates to Saudi Arabia and submarines to Pakistan during the 1990s.

Investigators found an estimated 13 million francs in kickbacks from the deals, now worth some 2.8 million euros. A large chunk of the money was suspected to have been funneled to Balladur's 1995 presidential bid.

The election was won by Jacques Chirac, who immediately canceled the payment of commissions on arms deals.

Leotard is also accused of having created a network of intermediaries for the contracts, which were signed between 1993 and 1995.

Balladur has previously denied any wrongdoing. He told investigators he thought the massive cash injection to his campaign funds came from the sale of T-shirts at election rallies.

In June last year, three former French government officials were among six people found guilty of charges involving kickbacks from the deals.

In this file photo, taken on February 2, 1995, French Prime minister and candidate for the 1995 presidential election Édouard Balladur (C) is seen speaking with the then-Budget Minister Nicolas Sarkozy (L) and his cabinet director Nicolas Bazire at the campaign headquarters in Paris, France. (By AFP)

The long-running affair is named after the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, where a bus carrying French defense engineers was blown up in May 2002, killing 15 people, including 11 employees of a French naval group.

The al-Qaeda terrorist group was first suspected of responsibility for the terror assault, but it was later claimed that the bombing was in retaliation for the non-payment of bribes promised by French officials.

Investigators also said later that the bombing might have been revenge for Chirac's decision to halt commission payments for the arms deals shortly after he beat Balladur in the presidential vote.

The 91-year-old, right-wing Balladur joins a long list of senior French politicians tried for financial wrongdoing, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chirac himself.

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