FRANCE: FORMER ELF OIL EXECUTIVE ALFRED SIRVEN ARRIVES IN PARIS AFTER BEING EXTRADICTED FROM GERMANY

Record ID: 344890

  • Title: FRANCE: FORMER ELF OIL EXECUTIVE ALFRED SIRVEN ARRIVES IN PARIS AFTER BEING EXTRADICTED FROM GERMANY
  • Date: 7th February 2001
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FEBRUARY 7, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (NIGHTSHOTS) 1. LV: EXTERIOR FINANCIAL BRANCH OF PARIS LAW COURTS 0.07 2. CU: RUE DES ITALIANS STREET SIGN 0.12 3. SLV/LV: POLICEMEN BEHIND GLASS DOORS OF COURT BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 0.23 4. SLV: INVESTIGATING MAGISTRATE EVA JOLY IN OFFICE AS SEEN THROUGH WINDOW 0.27 5. SLV: POLICEMEN BEHIND GLASS DOORS OF COURT BUILDING 0.36 6. MV: INVESTIGATING MAGISTRATE EVA JOLY IN OFFICE AS SEEN THROUGH WINDOW 0.51 7. SV: POLICE MANNING STREET BARRICADE 0.58 8. SV: TWO POLICEMEN 1.03 9. WS: MOTORCADE AND POLICE CARS GETTING IN PLACE FOR DEPARTURE 1.07 10. LV: SIRVEN CAR BACKING OUT OF COURT BUILDING 1.17 11. PAN: SIRVEN CAR PULLING AROUND CORNER WITH MOTORCADE 1.27 12. VARIOUS OF CONVOY DRIVING THROUGH STREETS OF PARIS (2 SHOTS) 1.34 13. VARIOUS: CONVOY ARRIVING AT LA SANTE PRISON 1.59 14. VARIOUS OF ARMED POLICE OUTSIDE PRISON (4 SHOTS) 2.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVACNM5FSSKM73PXL8KLIYT4EC93
  • Story Text: Alfred Sirven, a key figure in France's Elf corruption
    trial, has arrived in Paris after being extradited from
    Germany. After being informed of the charges against him by
    two investigating magistrates he was ordered detained in the
    capital's La Sante prison.


    Former oil industry executive Alfred Sirven, at the
    centre of one of France's biggest post-war corruption
    scandals, arrived late on Tuesday (February 6) in Paris after
    extradition from Germany and was immediately brought before
    two investigating magistrates.

    After spending several hours with the magistrates, Sirven,
    74, was taken to the capital's La Sante prison in the early
    hours of Wednesday (February 7).

    He stands accused of distributing millions of dollars in
    illegal slush funds allegedly siphoned from oil giant Elf when
    he was second-in-command at the strategic, state-owned firm --
    money from deals that Elf was striking across the globe.

    The list of his supposed beneficiaries stretches across
    political lines, from left to right, and his testimony could
    shed light on shady deals that Elf -- often used to protect
    French interests abroad -- made from Venezuela to Africa and
    Asia.

    Sirven was given a quick physical check by a military
    doctor at Villacoublay military airport before being driven to
    the headquarters of the financial fraud section of the Paris
    prosecutor's office to meet investigating magistrates.

    The magistrates reminded him of the charges facing him
    before sending him off to spend the night in Paris's
    forbidding La Sante prison whose other inmates include the
    international terrorist Carlos.

    Sirven is to appear in court on Wednesday but lawyers have
    predicted the hearing would be short and it was likely the
    trial would be postponed for several weeks to allow him to
    become better acquainted with the file against him.

    Also in the dock will be Foreign Minister Roland Dumas and
    five other people.

    During his four-day stay in Germany, which followed a
    mix-up over his repatriation from Manila, Sirven refused to be
    questioned by MPs probing the funding of ex-Chancellor Helmut
    Kohl's party.

    German prosecutors are curious to learn what he knows of
    37 million US dollars in commission paid by Elf during its
    purchase of East Germany's Leuna refinery from Kohl's
    government in 1992.

    Sirven was detained in Germany at the weekend after a
    mix-up over his repatriation from Manila when German officials
    insisted on formal extradition proceedings during what French
    police had planned as a brief stopover and aircraft change at
    Frankfurt.

    The fugitive was reported by French newspapers to have
    chewed his mobile phone chip on arrest to conceal his
    contacts.

    France's political establishment was anxiously awaiting to
    see if Sirven would talk freely, either in court on Wednesday
    or through his lawyers, since he has boasted he knew enough
    about sleaze in high places to "bring down the republic".

    If he decides to talk, the man who spent nearly four years
    on the run could blow the lid on corruption scams going far
    beyond the kickbacks scandal that has landed Dumas in court.

    Elf has since become part of the private TotalFinaElf
    group.


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