Money laundering: ‘Karachi affair’ suspect held in France for ‘escape bid’

Ziad Takieddine is embroiled in several scandals in France.


Afp/news Desk May 31, 2013
Takieddine is also being investigated for suspected money laundering after he was detained with 1.5 million euros in cash on a private flight out of Libya in March 2011, French judicial sources said late last year. PHOTO: FILE

PARIS:


Police on Thursday detained a Franco-Lebanese businessman who is being probed in a high-profile political financing scandal over suspicions he was trying to flee France, a source close to the case said.


Ziad Takieddine, who is barred from leaving France as long as investigations into the so-called Karachi affair go on, allegedly paid $260,000 for a diplomatic passport from the Dominican Republic, the source said.

The businessman is embroiled in several scandals in France, some of which allegedly involve former President Nicolas Sarkozy and other high-profile politicians.

He has claimed he has proof Sarkozy received illicit funding from Libya’s ex-dictator Muammar Qaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential campaign, and an official probe into the allegation has been opened.



Takieddine is also being investigated for suspected money laundering after he was detained with 1.5 million euros in cash on a private flight out of Libya in March 2011, French judicial sources said late last year.

And he has been charged with corruption in a case centred on commissions he allegedly received in 1994 arms deals that could have been used illegally in ex-prime minister Edouard Balladur’s presidential campaign the next year.

The so-called Karachi affair has also embroiled Sarkozy, who was Balladur’s campaign spokesman and budget minister at the time.

Dominique Penin, one of Takieddine’s lawyers, refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

“Karachi Affair” refers to the commissions and kickbacks paid by France when it sold Agosta submarines to Pakistan.



In 1994, France negotiated a deal to sell three Agosta-class submarines to Pakistan for $996 million. Commissions of 6.25% of the contract amount were also paid out.

These contracts are believed to have resulted in kickbacks which allegedly financed the campaign of former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur to French presidential election, 1995.

In 2002, when former French President Jacques Chirac was elected, he cancelled the commissions and kickbacks, angering many officials in Pakistan.

Some intelligence reports allege that the May 8, 2002 terrorist attack that killed 11 French technicians in Karachi was in retaliation for unpaid commissions.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2013.

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