The six defendants sent to correctional in the so-called "Karachi" case were sentenced to prison terms on Monday. This file relates to the supposed existence of a system of retrocommissions for the benefit of Edouard Balladur, unsuccessful presidential candidate of 1995, on the sidelines of arms sales contracts in Pakistan and in Saudi Arabia signed in 1994. The amount of these illicit sums is estimated between 6 and 10 million francs (915,000 € to 1.5 million euros).
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If the commissions paid to intermediaries were then legal, the retrocommissions paid by them were not. At the hearing, denouncing a "real predation enterprise" , the prosecution had requested sentences of up to seven years in prison against the defendants, tried for abuse of social property, complicity or concealment of this crime.
"Elevator return"
Three relatives of ex-Prime Minister Édouard Balladur are severely punished by the Paris court, in the forefront of which his former chief of staff, Nicolas Bazire, today senior executive of the LVMH group: 5 years in prison, including 2 with suspension, € 300,000 fine. The judges castigate "acts committed at the top of the hierarchy of the Prime Minister's Office by a senior official whose duties demanded irreproachable integrity ", facts which " have undermined exceptional gravity not only to public economic order but also to confidence in the functioning of public life ”.
Same penalty (but € 120,000 fine) for Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, former minister and at the time principal adviser to the Minister of Defense, François Léotard. According to the judges, “it is established [that] he received funds from [the intermediary] Ziad Takieddine which can be analyzed as a“ return from the elevator ”for having supported the introduction of his network in the Saudi and Pakistani markets ” . Thierry Gaubert, “an essential link between MM. Bazire et Takieddine ” , who “ knew the origin of the funds perfectly ” , was sentenced to 4 years in prison, 2 of which were suspended, and to a fine of € 120,000.
Monday's judgment sounds like a warning to Édouard Balladur, 91, and François Léotard, 78Ziad Takieddine, "aware of participating in a system of retrocommissions, which made it possible to bail out the campaign accounts of candidate Balladur" is, sentenced to 5 years firm with warrant of deposit - he was absent at the time of the deliberation. Dominique Castellan, ex-boss of the Directorate of Naval Constructions, author of "vague and imprecise explanations, seeking to clear customs on his subordinates or claiming that he had no choice" , is sentenced to 3 years in prison, 1 with suspension, plus a € 50,000 fine
Note that in light of the texts in force, firm sentences, if they become final - convicts have 10 days to appeal - could not be adjusted. There is however an ambiguity on the subject, because previously, any sentence less than or equal to 2 years firm could be subject to adjustment. If necessary, this dispute, which concerns other files, should be settled by the Court of Cassation.
Monday's judgment sounds like a warning for Édouard Balladur, 91, and François Léotard, 78, referred for the same alleged crimes before the Court of Justice of the Republic, the only body empowered to try ministers for acts committed in the exercise of their functions. This jurisdiction, which is also very controversial, is however not bound by any judgment or judgment rendered by a correctional court of first or second instance.