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To: cnyndwllr who wrote (95398)	3/31/2003 11:42:53 PM
From: Victor Lazlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

it is about oil.. for chirac... Former French oil chief: Company paid millions to political parties, including Chirac's By Pierre-Antoine Souchard, Associated Press, 3/31/2003 12:28 PARIS (AP) The former president of Elf Aquitaine testified Monday that the French oil giant paid about $5 million to French political parties during his leadership including to President Jacques Chirac's former party. Loik Le Floch-Prigent said nearly all the money went to Chirac's former party until then-President Francois Mitterrand, a Socialist, demanded the cash be spread to both sides of the political spectrum. Chirac, a conservative, succeeded Mitterrand as president in 1995. ''We absolutely needed French politicians who supported us,'' Le Floch-Prigent testified. ''There were politicians who didn't want to favor Elf ... We had to keep them quiet, to have them on our side.'' Chirac's office had no immediate comment on Monday's testimony. Le Floch-Prigent was Elf's president from 1989 to 1993. He is one of 37 former top officials on trial over allegations that Elf, once France's largest company, paid and received enormous commissions and used inflated bills and other devices to enrich a chosen few. Le Floch-Prigent testified March 19 that leaders of African nations where Elf did business were among the beneficiaries of lucrative commissions. Le Floch-Prigent faces myriad charges, including abuse of company funds, publication of false information and presentation of inaccurate accounts. During his leadership, the state-run company allegedly misused more than $145 million in public funds. Elf was privatized in 1994 and taken over in 1999 by TotalFina, making it a French-Belgian concern. Le Floch-Prigent's testimony was certain to rattle France's political elite. Chirac's office had no immediate comment on the testimony. Le Floch-Prigent testified that, under his leadership, Elf paid parties in the political right, including Chirac's Rally for the Republic, and left. The funds were skimmed off commissions paid on oil deals, he said. A previous corruption case that centered on Elf, one of the world's largest oil companies, ended in January. Le Floch-Prigent is serving a 30-month jail term from that trial and faces five years in prison if convicted this time. Le Floch-Prigent said the man once known within Elf as ''Mr. Africa,'' Andre Tarallo, took care of parties on the right, while Alfred Sirven, the former No. 2 man, handled the left. Tarallo and Sirven are among the top defendants in the case. Sirven fled France but was arrested in the Philippines in 2001 and received a three-year sentence in the earlier trial. Le Floch-Prigent was first jailed for questioning in the case in 1996, when he headed the state-run train authority, the SNCF.

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (95398)	4/7/2003 10:19:30 AM
From: SliderOnTheBlack	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 95453

Ed, Hillary, Daschel & all the other now - "irrelevant" liberals... Well Ed, it seems that the Iraqi Colonel who just led the 101st Airborne to a WMD cache now confirmed as containing Seren and Tavin among other chemicals, has brought up an interesting irony... in that it took the US Military a shorter period of time to find WMD's in Iraq than it took Hillary to find her records for the Rose Law Firm (rotflmao) !?!?!? We've went from the Lib's criticizing the "War Plan" - to that same "Plan" now being touted as perhaps the finest in modern Military History. We've eliminated the most Evil Dictator of modern times, who has killed hundreds of thousands of innocents and who is the most dangerous conduit of WMD's to the Global Terrorist World, as well as the greatest financeer of the same... What will the Lib's do, or say now; that WMD's have been found, that the Iraqi people are welcoming us with jubilation and when we do not seize their Oil, but rather rebuild their infastructure; just as we did Japan & Germany...while liberating and entire country and giving them hope, security, freedom and democracy ? The Democratic Left has just moved into political and moral irrelevancy...taking partisan politics to levels of anti-Americanism, if not aiding & comforting the enemy to treasonous levels. America and Americans stand proud today... proud that the truth will always prevail over talking points, partisan politics, even treasonous aid & comfort to our enemies...and that with the Grace of God; Good will always prevail over Evil. God Bless our Troops and America.