Swiss query suspect in "Karachi Affair"
Abdulrahman el-Assir, a Lebanese-born businessman subject to a French arrest warrant issued last November, was questioned on May 30 but was not placed in detention, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said.
There are no extradition proceedings under way, she added.
The "Karachi Affair", as it is dubbed in the French media, is a complex probe into alleged kickbacks on arms deals.
Investigators are looking into irregularities in the financing of Edouard Balladur's 1995 presidential campaign. Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy was then-prime minister Balladur's campaign spokesman and budget minister at the time.
Judges suspect Balladur's campaign of receiving illicit "retro-commissions" from the sale of French submarines to Pakistan. Two Sarkozy political aides and a former minister are under formal investigation over the affair.
Assir, who is also wanted for questioning in Spain in a money laundering investigation, is a former associate of Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who has already been charged with graft in the investigation.
French investigators raided Assir's Paris apartment several months ago but found it empty.
The suspect may soon be questioned in Switzerland by a French judge, according to legal sources.
Judges are also probing claims that a 2002 bombing in Karachi that killed 11 French naval engineers was carried out by Pakistani agents in revenge for the cancellation of bribes secretly promised to officials.
The payment of arms sales commissions was legal in France until 2000, but the payment of kickbacks back to France was and is illegal.
The probe focuses on the 1994 sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia, in which Assir and Takieddine are believed to have acted as middlemen.
Sarkozy loses his presidential immunity a month after leaving office on May 15 and could be called in for questioning, either as a witness or potentially as a suspect, in the case.
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1732354127-0/Untitled-design-(3)1732354127-0-270x192.webp "north america s oldest macaroni penguins mark their 40th year")
1732344836-0/BeFunk_§_]__-(37)1732344836-0.jpg "israeli attack targets hospital killing seven medics in lebanon")
I am astonished at the lack of coverage about Karachi Gate by Pakistani media considering how our current PM Zardari, French PM Nicolas Sarkozy, several big names in Pakistani politics and abroad are connected to scheme.
Why is Pakistani media so compliant?
Accepting illegal donations and murky funding of election campaigns are part of France's political culture. There was the "Clearstream affair" in 2007 that involved bribes in the sale of 6 warships to Taiwan. Sarkozy pressed charges against his political rival Dominique de Villepin for complicity to false denunciation. Last December ex-president Jacques Chirac was given a two-year suspended sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust.
@Not me: I agree with you 100%. Let us see who was in power in Pakistan in 1994-95 and 2002? Those must be brought to justice ASAP. We don't need to mince words and tell the truth. Where is the Suo Motu SC now when it involves the death of foreign engineers? Regards, Mirza
Get the "real" guy(s) and throw him behind bars please