more on French ELF scandal

Glen Reynolds has a nice collection of links regarding France's Total Fina ELF scandal, the stiff jail sentences that are being handed out and how this may impact the operation of a California insurance company. from the Financial Times: bq. The sentences bring to an end an investigation stretching back over eight years and which has thrown light on the corruption rampant in the final years of the late Francois Mitterrand's second term in office as president. A total of 37 people stood trial in this case, preceded by an earlier one involving corrupting charges - rejected on appeal - against former foreign minister Roland Dumas. bq. Elf, set up as a state run company by Gen Charles de Gaulle to ensure French independent sources of oil, had long been used as an unofficial arm of French foreign policy, as well as to provide under-the-table funds to political parties. from Forbes: bq. The inquiry sparks public criticism when the court hears how Elf secretly financed President Jacques Chirac's RPR political party and paid bribes to African leaders to win business. Zonitics links to the Cr�dit Lyonnais scandal that is part of the biger picture: bq. In April 1991 a California insurance company called Executive Life, having gone bust, became the object of an investigation by the state of California. In 1992 what had once been France's most successful bank, Cr�dit Lyonnais (now a decrepit institution), put together a deal whereby the bank would buy Executive Life's junk bond portfolio, and a new French insurance company would take over Executive Life's insurance business. At the time of the deal, Cr�dit Lyonnais was owned by the French state. Under U.S. federal law banks could not own insurance companies; under California law state-owned companies could not own insurance companies. The deal was agreed to because U.S. insurance regulators were assured that the new insurance company was independent of Cr�dit Lyonnais. In 1995 the French government created the Consortium de R�alisation (CDR) to take over Cr�dit Lyonnais' bad assets, including Executive Life's bond portfolio. But in 1998 it was discovered that the French insurance company that had taken over Executive Life's insurance business was not independent of Cr�dit Lyonnais.

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on November 12, 2003 10:16 AM.

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