Former French PM questioned over the Karachi affair

[News_Editor]

Former French PM questioned over the Karachi affair

2010-11-27 07:34:36 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was questioned by a judge over the Karachi affair, the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002, local media reported on Friday.

Villepin was questioned for hours as a witness by investigative magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke. The former PM declared that he had very strong suspicions that French officials received illegal payment in relation to weapons deals in 1995.

The Karachi affair, as it has been named in France, is currently under investigation over allegations that the illegal kickbacks were used to fund the presidential campaign of then-Prime Minister Balladur. The campaign director was current President Sarkozy.

Balladur lost the election to Jacques Chirac, who scrapped a number of defense commissions to Pakistan. Many believe that the attack on the French citizens in southern Pakistan was a retaliation for the scrapped defense commissions. The 2002 bombing killed 11 French engineers in the Pakistani city of Karachi.

"In my view there cannot be any link between the Karachi attack and the stopping of the payment of the commissions," Villepin declared.

At that time, Villepin was the chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the defense commissions after suspecting thy would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Balladour. Villepin is also Sarkozy’s main political rival and will probably run against him in the 2012 presidential election.

On Monday, President Nicolas Sarkozy called journalists pedophiles at the Lisbon NATO summit after being questioned over the 2002 Karachi attack. He said that the allegations on this case are a "grotesque fairy tale."

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