From BBC News:
A Paris court is due on Wednesday to announce verdicts in one of France's biggest corruption trials. Thirty-seven people are accused of embezzling about $350m from the formerly state-owned oil giant Elf in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Top managers, including then chairman Loik Le Floch-Prigent, allegedly creamed money from a huge slush fund set up to secure foreign deals. The defendants say they became part of a pre-existing system of bribes.
Mr Le Floch-Prigent was appointed to run Elf by socialist President Francois Mitterrand in 1989. Under his four-year tenure, the bribes paid out by Elf to officials around the world rocketed from $50m to $130m a year, according to prosecutors. The other main defendants include Mr Le Floch-Prigent's former right-hand man, Alfred Sirven - who is said to have been in charge of Elf's main slush fund - and Andre Tarallo, the head of the company's African operation.
Mr Sirven and Mr Tarallo allegedly received jewels and properties. Mr Le Floch-Prigent got the company to pay for his divorce. If found guilty, they could face jail sentences of up to 10 years. The other 34 defendants are former Elf executives and middlemen who allegedly arranged pay-offs around the world. Mr Le Floch-Prigent and Mr Sirven are already serving jail terms for related offences at the corruption trial of former foreign minister Roland Dumas - who has been cleared on appeal.
During the trial Mr Le Floch-Prigent said he knew of the slush fund system but not in detail. He also said that that France's political elite at the time knew about - and benefited from - the company's slush funds. He and others told prosecutors that French political parties were among the recipients of Elf's largesse. Mr Sirven and Tarallo have admitted to "mistakes" - but argued that they were led astray by a culture of bribery at Elf. Elf was privatised in 1994, and says it no longer pays bribes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3262753.stmI remember reading somewhere of the elf oil/enron connections. Anyone got a link?