PARIS: France will try 90-year-old former prime minister Edouard Balladur over claims that he used kickbacks from a 1990s arms sales to fund a failed presidential bid, the country’s top prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Balladur joins a long list of senior French politicians pursued for alleged financial wrongdoing, including deceased ex-president Jacques Chirac, Chirac’s successor Nicolas Sarkozy and two other ex-prime ministers.

On the same day another court ordered former president Nicolas Sarkozy to stand trial for illicit campaign financing, adding to his legal woes as he also prepares to answer charges of exerting pressure on a judge.

Sarkozy, 64, lost his final appeal to the highest criminal court, and risks a year in prison and a fine of 3,750 euros ($4,085) if found guilty.

Edouard Balladur, the conservative ex-premier, will be tried by the Court of Justice of the Republic, a tribunal dedicated to hearing cases of ministerial misconduct, attorney general Francois Molins announced.

Balladur and former defence minister Francois Leotard, 77, were charged in 2017 with “complicity in misuse of corporate assets” over the sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia when Balladur was prime minister, between 1993 and 1995.

Kickback claims emerged during investigation into the Karachi bombing in 2002 targeting a bus with French engineers

The kickbacks are estimated at about 13 million francs (almost two million euros in today’s money), which are suspected of including a cash donation to Balladur’s 1995 presidential campaign of a little over 10 million francs, Molins said in a statement.

Balladur also has to answer to a charge that he concealed the crimes.

The claims came to light during an investigation into a 2002 bombing in Karachi which targeted a bus transporting French engineers.

Fifteen people were killed, including 11 engineers working on the submarine contract.

Al Qaeda was initially suspected of the attack, but the focus later shifted to the arms deal as investigators considered whether the bombing may have been revenge for the non-payment of promised bribes after Chirac pipped Balladur in the vote and cancelled the payment of commissions.

‘Opaque network’

Former defence minister Leotard is accused of having created an “opaque network” underpinning arms contracts signed with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia under the Balladur government.

The ex-premier, in turn, stands charged with instructing the budget ministry to approve state guarantees for “deficient or underfunded” contracts, because of the alleged kickbacks, Molins’ statement read.

Balladur’s lawyers said on Tuesday he was “confident” he would be cleared of any wrongdoing, “given that he never committed any of the acts of which he is accused”.

He has on other occasions denied knowledge of any commissions or kickbacks and said he was not responsible for the “details” of the financing of his presidential campaign.

Others close to Balladur, including his campaign manager Nicolas Bazire, senior official Thierry Gaubert who worked for then-budget minister Sar­kozy, and controversial Franco-Leba­nese businessman, Ziad Takieddine, will be tried in the same case later this month.

Case against Sarkozy

Prosecutors say Sarkozy spent nearly 43 million euros ($40 million) on his failed 2012 re-election bid — almost double the legal limit of 22.5 million euros — using fake invoices.

He has said he was unaware of the fraud by executives at the public relations firm Bygmalion, who are among 13 others being pursued in the case.

Sarkozy’s lawyer Emmanuel Piwnica called the appeals court ruling a “disappointment”.

Since losing the election to the Socialist Party’s Francois Hollande and leaving office, Sarkozy has fought a barrage of corruption and campaign financing charges, all of which he rejects.

The former Republican party leader faces another trial on charges of corruption and influence peddling over his alleged attempts to try to get information from a judge about an investigation focused on him.

And he has been charged over accusations he accepted millions of euros from the late Libyan ruler Moamer Qadhafi towards his first presidential campaign in 2007.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2019