Money, Arms and Much More
If one person in the West symbolizes the growing resistance to corruption it is Eva Jolly, the Paris based investigating magistrate in the Elf Aquitaine affair. With its allegations of bribes and suspicious arms deals involving those at the highest levels of French political life the case have rocked France over the last eighteen months. Some $400m of the then state owned oil company funds are said to have been diverted for corrupt purposes. Judge Jolly, 57, has shown an unprecedented determination, verging on a personal crusade, to tackle France traditional untouchables? Political leaders and major business figures as she pressed her investigations she summoned some of Paris most prominent figures. If they would not testify she jailed them.
Among those tried this year over the scandal was Roland Dumas, the former French foreign minister, once a close confidant of President Mitterrand. Dumas faced many allegations including that of forcing Elf bosses to hire his mistress Christine Deviers-Joncour. The couple are said to have enjoyed Elf largesse, buying an exclusive Left Bank flat and lavish gifts for each other with the company funds. Before Eva Jolly appointment seven years ago no corporate financial prosecution of any substance had ever been brought before a French tribunal. The Elf Aquitaine is the most recent successful investigation for Ms Jolly and it has been just one of many French cases that received heavy media coverage in the year. Allegations against a former Paris Mayor, later President Jacques Chirac, were rekindled after a property developer said in a video recording he handed over bribes in Chirac presence. President Mitterrand son, Jean-Christophe, was also under investigation for engaging in illegal arms trafficking to Angola and money laundering while serving as his father African Affairs adviser in the early 1990s.
In March 2001 the voters of Paris handed the city government over to the socialist party for the first time. The outgoing mayor Jean Toberi and the ruling conservatives had become enmeshed in sleaze allegations involving public contracts, campaign kickbacks and vote rigging.
Within Western Europe the culture of bribery is slowly eroding, both in countries where passing a cash filled ‘brown envelope’ has been the only way to get things done or where companies pay large ‘commissions’ to secure overseas contracts. But corruption is far from extinct. The awareness of public perception has dramatically increased in the last ten years.
As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says in No Longer Business as Usual Not so long ago, bribing public officials in foreign countries to obtain business deals was, if not acceptable, at least a tolerated business practice in many OECD countries. Today, corruption has moved to the top of the global political agenda and its dramatic impact on economic development and its corrosive effect on political stability and democratic political institutions have become increasingly obvious.
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