Panama Scandals - The Scandal

The Scandal

In 1892/1893, a large number of ministers (including Clemenceau) were accused by French nationalists of taking bribes from Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1888, for the permit of the lottery issue, leading to a corruption process against Lesseps and his son Charles. Meanwhile, 510 members of parliament - including six ministers - were accused of receiving bribery from the Panama Canal Company to withhold from the public information about the company's financial status. Lesseps, his son Charles, members of the management as well as the engineer Gustave Eiffel, were at first given long jail sentences, although they were later annulled.

In the bribery trial, the former city development minister, Bethaut, received five years imprisonment, three of which he had to serve. Baron Reinach - the financial adviser of the Canal Company and exerciser of the various bribes – committed suicide. Other defendants fled to England. On 7 December 1894, Lesseps died.

Politicians accused of involvement included Léon Bourgeois and Alfred Joseph Naquet. One hundred and four legislators were found to have been involved in the corruption, and Jean Jaurès was commissioned by the French parliament to conduct an enquiry into the matter, completed in 1893. The investigations into the Panama affair were resumed in 1897, but the defendants were acquitted.