Charles Pasqua - Corruption Scandals

Corruption Scandals

Pasqua has been involved in various political scandals, including the Angolagate arms trafficking scandal, the Sofremi affair, the Annemasse casino affair, another affair concerning the moving of the headquarters of Alstom company, as well as the Fondation Hamon affair:

He was named in corruption scandals concerning the public housing projects of the Hauts-de-Seine.

In 2004 his name appeared on the list, published by al Mada, of people who allegedly received corruption money from Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq during the course of the Oil-for-Food Program.

Following the publication of the Al Mada article, a US Senate report accused him, along with the British Respect MP, George Galloway, of receiving the right to buy oil under the UN's oil-for-food scheme. Pasqua denied the charges and pointed out that he never met Saddam Hussein, never been to Iraq and never cultivated any political ties with that country. In a lengthy written rebuttal to the Senate report, Charles Pasqua pointed out further that since the oil vouchers were lifted by a legal entity incorporated in a European country, it should be relatively easy for investigators to uncover the masterminds behind the fraud instead of making accusations based on "sensational" press articles.

The investigations concerning the Annemasse casino affair and the move to Saint-Ouen of the headquarter of GEC-Alstom's transport subsidiary were closed in February 2007. In the first affair, which dates back to 1994 while he was Interior Minister of Edouard Balladur, Pasqua was suspected of having delivered an administrative authorization to operate a casino in Annemasse to Robert Feliciaggi in exchange for future political funding. Robert Felliciagi was assassinated in March 2006 in Ajaccio, Corsica. He had resold the casino in 1995, making an important profit. In the second affair concerning Alstom, Etienne Léandri, a friend of Pasqua's, reportedly received an illegal commission of 5.2 million Francs (790,000 euros).

The Sofremi affair is still under investigation. It concerns monies paid between 1993 to 1995 by the Sofremi, a weapons exporter attached the Ministry of Interior, to people close to Pasqua.

Along with André Santini, Pasqua was also the subject of investigations concerning an affair related to the Jean Hamon donation. A wealthy mecene, Jean Hamon, had donated in 2000 to the department of the Hauts-de-Seine 192 works of art, estimated to be worth 192 millions euros. The Hauts-de-Seine, then led by Pasqua, was supposed to create a museum for them in Issy-les-Moulineaux, but the project was abandoned. An investigation was opened in 2003 when a judge based in Versailles asked herself why the Hauts-de-Seine department had paid for the care of these works of art, for a total amount of 800,000 euros, while they were still stored in a castle owned by the billionaire. Since the department continued to pay for a year after Nicolas Sarkozy's take-over of the department's general council, the affair may also involve him. Sarkozy won the 2007 presidential election as the UMP candidate.