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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Secret slush funds dominate French politics to an extent that makes the
Tories' funding troubles seem pedestrian
Allegations of a funding scandal within Britain's Conservative party have
barely been reported in France. That intimate soirées chez David and
Samantha Cameron may have been worth hundreds of thousands of pounds towards
the prime minister's career fund is considered trivial in a country where a
master of the political backhander was president for 12 years. Jacques
Chirac was rightly – if extremely leniently – finally given a two-year
suspended sentence in December for embezzlement, abuse of trust, and an
illegal conflict of interest. All of his dirty money related in some way to
party funding, yet Chirac was still allowed to postpone the ignominy of
court appearances until well after his retirement from the Elysée palace in
2007.
Rather than ending the problem of illicit funding, the Chirac convictions
merely exposed how institutionalised it was. Cash-filled brown envelopes and
secret slush funds dominate French political life in a manner that makes
the Tories' troubles appear pedestrian. How many people in the UK are aware,
for example, that Alain Juppé, France's current foreign secretary, is also
a convicted criminal? Juppé received his own (14 months) suspended prison
sentence in 2004. A damning judgment said it was "regrettable that Mr Juppé
, whose intellectual qualities are unanimously recognised, did not judge it
appropriate to assume before justice his entire criminal responsibility and
kept on denying established facts."
Such judicial politesse will be on the mind of Juppé's current boss,
Nicolas Sarkozy, who is now facing a number of devastating inquiries in the
run up to the presidential election in April/May. As allegations against
Cameron were being published, an examining magistrate said that Liliane
Bettencourt, the L'Oréal heiress and France's richest woman, may have
contributed two payments of €400,000 (£335,000) each to Sarkozy's
2007 election campaign. Both were traced to Swiss accounts, and one was
allegedly received by Sarkozy in person.
Serving presidents cannot be prosecuted in France. Chirac added this useful
measure into the constitution when his own legal problems started to emerge.
Sarkozy has steadfastly refused to comment on l'affaire Bettencourt, but he
did at least say a few short words on national TV about claims that he had
also been on the payroll of deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The
colonel is said to have funded Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign to the
tune of €50m (£42m). "It's grotesque and I am sorry that I am
being interrogated about declarations of Gaddafi or his son on an important
channel like TF1," Sarkozy snapped.
The Gaddafi accusations are closely linked to the so-called "Karachi affair"
, which involves illegal arms sales to Pakistan and the murders of 11 French
workers in a bomb attack. It is a crucially important saga and one also
centred on party funding. Sarkozy was the campaign spokesman for É
douard Balladur when kickbacks from Pakistanis were said to be secretly
paying for Balladur's own presidential campaign in 1995. In which case,
Sarkozy should have answered questions about the scandal with dignity and
clarity.
There is so much evidence being massed against Sarkozy that Eva Joly, a
former anti-terrorist judge who is now standing against him as Green party
candidate for the presidency, said he should waive his immunity from
prosecution immediately. This demand may sound like the words of a ruthless
political opponent, but remember that Sarkozy's former treasurer, Eric
Woerth, is just one of numerous close associates currently under judicial
investigation. Joly said "we now have proof", pointing towards the "illicit
financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign in 2007" and that this was "very
serious for democracy". Ségolène Royal, Sarkozy's Socialist rival five
years ago, was even more mischievous, saying the main reason Sarkozy was
desperate to remain in office this year was because of Bettencourt, Gaddafi
and Karachi. Royal suggested that the once sacred office of president was
effectively being used to harbour an alleged criminal.
Sarkozy has denied all wrongdoing, but when you consider that his immediate
predecessor and one-time mentor used his position as head of state to hide
from justice for more than a decade, it is worth taking seriously. Anybody
who wants to underplay party funding scandals, whether in France or in
Britain, should certainly acknowledge this stark reality. |
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