André Tarallo (1927 in
Centuri, Haute-Corse – 24 April 2018 in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
), commonly known as Monsieur Africa, was a
French businessman who worked as the top manager of African affairs for French petroleum company
Elf Aquitaine
Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total ...
from the late 1970s until his arrest in the 1990s for embezzlement.
Early life
Tarallo was born at
Centuri, Haute-Corse, the son of a tax collector. He studied at the
École nationale d'administration
The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...
.
Career
For thirty years, Tarallo managed Elf's interests in Africa, surrounding himself with a team of fellow Corsicans in the higher echelons of the organisation. His connections and role as a negotiator in the region made him indispensable to Elf. In 1989 CEO
Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, himself later indicted during the Elf fraud investigation, attempted to remove Tarallo from his position by forcing him to retire, but was largely unsuccessful. Tarallo remained with the titles of Chairman of Elf-Congo, Elf-Gabon and Elf Trading, a financial subsidiary in
Geneva
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, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
.
During his time at the head of Elf's African operations, he obtained the nicknames "Mister Africa" and "Corsican Uncle".
Legal troubles
Tarallo was temporarily detained in 1997, when the investigation Elf Aquitaine reached him. Several subsequent investigations revealed further financial improprieties, including a 1999 Swiss investigation exposing his use of bank accounts maintained by Elf for bribing African governments, including the heads of state of
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
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, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
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, coordina ...
,
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, the Republic of Congo and
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
.
Prosecution found that Tarallo maintained several bank accounts with names such as Tomato, Salad, Langouste, Colette (the name of his wife), or Centuri in tax havens around the world, including
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
,
Switzerland and
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...
and accused him of stealing at least 50 million dollars. During a 2000 trial, he admitted the existence of the
slush fund.
In November 2013 he was found guilty of misusing funds and was sentenced him to four years in prison and a €2 million fine. Tarallo maintained that bribing officials had not been not a misuse of funds, since it led to business deals for Elf.
Less than two months later, he was released for health reasons and suffered an emergency heart surgery. In October 2004, following the appeal trial, his sentence was increased to seven years' imprisonment.
Death
André Tarallo died on 24 April 2018 in Paris.
See also
*
Angola-France relations
*
Angolagate
References
1927 births
2018 deaths
People from Haute-Corse
Mitterrand–Pasqua affair
French businesspeople
TotalEnergies people
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