Forty-two people including the son of late former French president Francois Mitterrand and dozens of businessman, politicians and public figures go on trial today over a vast “arms-to-Angola” scandal.
Dubbed “Angolagate” by the French press, the long-running affair has cast a shadow over a raft of senior government officials, including many who served during Mitterrand’s two-term presidency from 1981 to 1995.
It revolves around the trafficking of US$790 million in arms to the southern African country from 1993 to 1998, at the height of a bloody civil war that left half a million dead.
Two businessman, Frenchman Pierre Falcone, 54, and Russian-born Israeli billionaire Arcady Gaydamak, 56, are at the heart of the case, accused of acting as go-betweens for illegal arms deliveries from eastern Europe.
Both face 10 years in jail for influence-peddling and illegal arms sales.
Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, 61, who was an adviser on African affairs at the Elysee presidential palace from 1986 to 1992, is accused of “complicity in illegal trade and embezzlement” and taking bribes worth US$2.6 million.
The charges leveled at Jean-Cristophe Mitterrand, who risks five years in jail, state that he had a “determining role” in putting the Angolan regime in touch with Falcone.
French former interior minister Charles Pasqua, 81, and his right-hand man Jean-Charles Marchiani, 65, also risk 10 years for influence-peddling in favor of the Angolan authorities.
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