Paying Illegal Kickbacks by TOTAL
Total reportedly under investigation over kickbacks on Iran field
Paris—French oil major Total is being probed on suspicion of paying illegal kickbacks
for the rights to exploit an Iranian gas field between 1996 and 2003, a source close to the inquiry said December 19, quoted by AFP.
French authorities opened an investigation December 18 into the alleged misuse of company funds and the corruption of foreign civil servants, after a tip-off from authorities in Switzerland where the suspect funds were discovered.
Around SFr100 million ($80 million), believed by investigators to have been used to secure the Iranian contract, were found in two Swiss bank accounts, according to the source. Swiss authorities have opened a separate investigation for money laundering and the funds have been frozen.
A Total spokeswoman said the group was not aware of the launch of an investigation. “Obviously, we cannot offer any comment,” she said, adding: “ Iran is a sensitive country and we have teams working there, so we are all the more careful.”
According to a source close to the inquiry, some of the money is believed to have benefited a relative of the former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The Iranian gas field in question was developed as part of a joint venture between Total, an Iranian firm, and Russia ’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom.
The biggest company on the Paris stock market with a valuation of Eur129 billion, Total is already under investigation on suspicion of making illegal payments to gain access to various foreign markets in the late 1990s. The group’s deputy CEO, Christophe de Margerie, was placed under investigation in October for complicity in the misuse of company funds and the corruption of foreign civil servants (ON 10/23).
French financial judge Philippe Courroye, who is investigating both cases, has been trying to establish whether Total bypassed the oil embargo imposed by the United Nations on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq .
In 2005, the Total probe led the judge to uncover a French connection to the UN oil-for-food scandal. A dozen people, including former interior minister Charles Pasqua, have since been placed under investigation for abuses of the 1996-2003 scheme, which was intended to allow Baghdad to sell limited quantities of oil in exchange for food and medicines.—Staff reports
Dec. 20, 2006 Platts
posted by Mohammad Reza Farzanegan @ 02:58
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