Agosta Scandal: French ex-minister charged with arms deal graft

PARIS:

A former French minister was charged with graft on Thursday over alleged arms deal kickbacks said to have funded the presidential campaign of an ally of President Nicolas Sarkozy, a lawyer said.

A lawyer working for the families of victims of a Pakistani bomb attack thought to be linked to the deal said Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres had been charged with “embezzling public funds”.

Earlier, police had confirmed that the suspect had been arrested on Tuesday. He is now free, but expected for face trial for his role in “the Karachi affair”.

Vabres, 57, was serving as a senior advisor to then defence minister in 1994 when a suspect contract to sell French submarines to Pakistan was signed. Earlier in the year, official Pakistani documents detailing how President Asif Ali Zardari allegedly benefited from secret payments connected to the sale of French submarines to Pakistan had been seized as evidence.

The documents alleged that the payments to Zardari and others were connected to the sale of three Agosta class submarines by French defence contractor DCN to Pakistan.

However, PPP has denied the reports about the president’s alleged involvement in the scandal.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2011.