France’s Former PM On Trial for Arms Deal Corruption

FORMER French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur is facing trial at a Paris court over allegations that he received bribes during a controversial 1990s arms deal.

Edouard Balladur, right-wing former French PM has been charged with taking kickbacks (bribes) as part of an arms deal controversy known in the French media as the Karach scandal.

The scandal focuses on allegations of corruption in connection with two French arms deal during the last years of François Mitterrand’s presidency in the 1990s, when Balladur was prime minister.

In June three former government officials were among six people found guilty of charges involving kickbacks from the arms deal of submarines to Pakistan and small boats to Saudi Arabia signed between 1993 and 1995. The kickbacks are estimated at around 13m francs, worth about €2m today, 10m francs of which went as a cash donation to Balladur’s campaign, which he claims he thought he received through fundraising.

Balladur, who was France’s PM between 1993 and 1995, will appear in the court of justice of the republic in Paris, a tribunal designated to deal with accusations of ministerial corruption.

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