Mitterrand–Pasqua affair
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The Mitterrand–Pasqua affair, also known informally as Angolagate, was an international
political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, unethic ...
over the secret sale and shipment of arms from
Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
to the government of
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
by the
Government of France The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...
in the 1990s. The scandal has been tied to several prominent figures in French politics.


Bicesse Accords

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
José Eduardo dos Santos José Eduardo dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was the president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for the ...
of Angola met with
Jonas Savimbi Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary politician and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA waged a guerrilla war agai ...
of
UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
in Bicesse/
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
and signed the Bicesse Accords, a peace agreement that attempted unsuccessfully to end the
Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...
, on May 31, 1991, with the mediation of the
Portuguese government , border = Central , image = , caption = , date = , state = Portuguese Republic , address = Official Residence of the Prime MinisterEstrela, Lisbon , appointed = President o ...
. The accords laid out a transition to multi-party
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
under the supervision of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
'
UNAVEM II The United Nations Angola Verification Mission II (UNAVEM II), established May 1991 and lasting until February 1995, was the second United Nations peacekeeping mission, of a total of four, deployed to Angola during the course of the Angolan Civ ...
mission with a presidential election in a year. The accords attempted to demobilize the 152,000 active fighters and integrate the remaining government troops and UNITA rebels into a 50,000-strong
Angolan Armed Forces The Angolan Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas Angolanas) or FAA is the military of Angola. The FAA consist of the Angolan Army (), the Angolan Navy () and the National Air Force of Angola (). Reported total manpower in 2021 was about 107,000. ...
(FAA). The FAA would consist of a national army with 40,000 troops, navy with 6,000, and air force with 4,000. While UNITA largely did not disarm, the FAA complied with the accord and demobilized, leaving the government disadvantaged. At the same time, the Cuban troops that had helped MPLA forces to push back the South African army and UNITA rebels during the
Battle of Cuito Cuanavale The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was fought intermittently between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988, south and east of the town of Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) and advisors and soldie ...
, completed their withdrawal from Angola. This meant that the MPLA would have an even greater disadvantage if fighting resumed (as they were aligned with the FAA). Angola held a presidential election in 1992. In the first round dos Santos officially received 49.57% of the vote and Savimbi won 40.6%. Savimbi said the election had neither been free nor fair and refused to participate in the second round. International observers, however, affirmed that the elections had been largely free and fair. Savimbi, along with eight opposition parties and many other election observers, said the election had been neither free nor fair. The MPLA massacred over ten thousand UNITA and FNLA voters nationwide in a few days in what was known as the
Halloween Massacre "Halloween Massacre" is the term associated with the major reorganization of United States President of the United States, president Gerald Ford's United States Cabinet, cabinet on November 4, 1975, which was an attempt to address multiple high-lev ...
. UNITA renewed its guerrilla war, capturing five of Angola's eighteen provincial capitals.(fr) or (es)


Arms sales

With the
MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social d ...
on the verge of defeat, dos Santos contacted Jean-Bernard Curial, the former
French Socialist Party The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major p ...
Southern Africa expert, and asked him to come to
Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
. When he came back, Curial, supportive of dos Santos, contacted members of the government, President's advisor for African Affairs, Bruno Delahe and
Jean-Christophe Mitterrand Jean-Christophe Mitterrand (born 19 December 1946) is the son of former French president François Mitterrand. He was an advisor to his father on African affairs from 1986 to 1992,President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
. Jean-Christophe referred Curial to
Pierre Falcone Pierre Falcone (born 19 March 1954 in Algiers) is a French businessman. He is the Chairman of Pierson Capital Group. Early life Falcone is the son of Pierre Falcone senior, who created ''Papa Falcone'', a fully integrated operation in the fis ...
, head of , a consortium of companies, and adviser to a
parastatal A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
run by the right-wing
Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
Charles Pasqua Charles Victor Pasqua (18 April 192729 June 2015) was a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's ''cohabitation'' government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government o ...
. Pasqua believed that in the early 1990s the U.S. government's support for UNITA had diminished while tacit support for the MPLA increased because peace would increase oil output. He argued that if Mitterrand's position on Angola did not change in kind, French oil companies would miss out on a vital opportunity. Jean-Christophe's lawyer says that Jean-Christophe Mitterrand first met Falcone after he stopped working as an expert on Africa for the Élysée. Falcone and Jean-Christophe Mitterrand first met in July 1992 in Phoenix, Arizona, after he left his charges as President's advisor for African Affairs. At that time he was with his family, on holiday, in the United States, with a relation who was an employee of
Thomson CSF Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics with a heavy focus upon the aerospace and defence sectors of the market. Thomson-CSF was formed in 1968 following the merger of Thomson-Houst ...
, a French arms and electronics company. He introduced Jean-Christophe Mitterrand to his friend Pierre Falcone during a dinner at his home in Scottsdale in July 1992. At that time Jean-Christophe Mitterrand was free of government charges until May 1992, and had already signed a contract with a private French company (La Compagnie Générale des Eaux). After the Angolan elections (see above), Curial met Falcone, who went to Angola for the first time and organised for the Angolan government a successful pre-paid operation in oil dealing. Later the Angolan government gave him an official mission to supervise supplying his army with arms from the East Central European country
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
and the population with food and medicine. The Angolan government bought
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
$47 million worth of ammunition, mortar, and artillery from the Slovakian company ZTS-OZOS on November 7, 1993, which dos Santos received in December. In April 1994 the government bought $463 million worth of
fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
and
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
s. By late 1994 the Angolan government had purchased $633 million worth of weapons. Dos Santos secretly had
Elísio de Figueiredo Elísio de Figueiredo served as the first ambassador of Angola to the United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly ...
, the former ambassador of Angola to France, act as Angola's
envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an automobile brand used to sell Bri ...
to friendly contacts in France. Falcone worked with the Angolan government through Figueiredo.


Scandal uncovered

Jean-Charles Marchiani, Pasqua's subordinate, allegedly went to
Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
and signed an agreement with dos Santos on November 29, 1994 that promised to organise a better relationship with the French government in which some ministers, Leotard (defence minister), and Alain Madelin (Minister for finances) had openly supported Jonas Savimbi for many years. In exchange, they seemed to receive Angolese political and financial agreement for Pasqua's party, which was running for European elections. Then,
Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...
planned to run for president in the 1995 election. When Pasqua endorsed
Édouard Balladur Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, comi ...
, Chirac's rival, Chirac's supporters told the French Tax Office about Falcone's arms shipments and alleged
income tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
. While there is agreement that no arms ever passed through France, the Tax Office investigated individuals connected with the scandal because agreements were allegedly signed in Paris. Allain Guilloux, Brenco International's fiscal lawyer in France, said that the Angolan government had agreed to Marchiani's deal in Luanda, not Paris. In 1996, the French Financial Brigades confiscated 50,000 documents from the offices of Falcone and
Arcadi Gaydamak Arcadi Aleksandrovich Gaydamak ( he, ארקדי אלכסנדרוביץ' גאידמק; russian: Аркадий Александрович Гайдамак; born 8 April 1952 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-born French-Israeli businessman, philanthr ...
, a
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n–
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i businessman and associate of Falcone.


Arrest and trial

French police arrested Falcone on December 1, 2000 on charges of
tax fraud Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
. Seven days later, the French government issued a warrant for the arrest of Gaydamak. French police arrested Jean-Christophe Mitterrand on December 21 for his supposed role in the arms deal but released him on January 11 after his mother had paid his $725,000 bail. A judge found Mitterrand guilty in 2004 of tax fraud and gave him a suspended sentence of 30 months in prison. In April 2007, the
investigative magistrate In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate (also called investigating magistrate, inquisitorial magistrate, or investigating judge) is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases m ...
indicted 42 people, including Jean-Christophe Mitterrand,
Jacques Attali Jacques José Mardoché Attali (; born 1 November 1943) is a French economic and social theorist, writer, political adviser and senior civil servant, who served as a counselor to President François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1991, and was the firs ...
,
Charles Pasqua Charles Victor Pasqua (18 April 192729 June 2015) was a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's ''cohabitation'' government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government o ...
and
Jean-Charles Marchiani Jean-Charles Marchiani, (born August 6, 1943) is a French prefect and politician. He is also a former officer of the French external intelligence agency (DGSE). Jean-Charles Marchiani is a counter-terrorism expert, especially focused on Islamic fun ...
, for having received illegal payments from
Pierre Falcone Pierre Falcone (born 19 March 1954 in Algiers) is a French businessman. He is the Chairman of Pierson Capital Group. Early life Falcone is the son of Pierre Falcone senior, who created ''Papa Falcone'', a fully integrated operation in the fis ...
.
Arcadi Gaydamak Arcadi Aleksandrovich Gaydamak ( he, ארקדי אלכסנדרוביץ' גאידמק; russian: Аркадий Александрович Гайдамак; born 8 April 1952 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-born French-Israeli businessman, philanthr ...
and Falcone were also indicted. The writer
Paul-Loup Sulitzer Paul Loup Karl Sulitzer (born 22 July 1946, in Boulogne-Billancourt) is a French financier and author. Before he turned seventeen, he was already a self-made millionaire. Sulitzer used his financial experience and knowledge in his books, which of ...
was also indicted and charged of having received €380,000 from Falcone. The
Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Social ...
deputy
Georges Fenech Georges Vincent Antoine Fenech (born 26 October 1954) is a French former magistrate and politician. A member of The Republicans (LR), he represented the 11th constituency of the Rhône department in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2008 and ...
was charged of having received €15,200 in 1997 from Brenco. The trial started in 2008, ''
in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...
'' of Gaydamak who left for Israel. Sulitzer admitted taking €300,000 in return for information in December 2008 and testified against Falcone. He accused prosecutors of "trying to kill a mosquito with a nuclear bomb".


Sentencing

The sentences for the "Angolagate affair" were handed down on October 27, 2009. Charles Pasqua and Jean-Charles Marchiani were found guilty of taking money from Gaydamak and Falcone that they knew was proceeds of crime. Pasqua was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended and a €100,000 fine. Marchiani was sentenced to three months in prison. Gaydamak and Falcone were found guilty of illegal arms deals, tax fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and others, sentenced to six years in prison and multi-million-euro fines each. Gaydamak was sentenced
in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...
, and it was unclear whether he would ever serve the prison term. Falcone, who tried and failed to claim
diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.
in the case, was taken into custody by police after the judge had finished reading out the sentences. Jean-Christophe Mitterrand was found guilty of receiving $2 million from Falcone and Gaydamak to promote their interests and were sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence and a €375,000 fine. Paul-Loup Sulitzer was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to 15 months in prison and a €100,000 fine. Jacques Attali and Georges Fenech were acquitted. In total, 36 individuals were convicted of various levels of involvement in the scandal, 21 of whom appealed the decision.


Appeal decision

The
Paris Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Paris (french: Cour d'appel de Paris) is the largest appeals court in France in terms of the number of cases brought before it. Its jurisdiction covers the departments of Paris, Essonne, Yonne, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-D ...
's decision was given on April 29, 2011, and its findings were quite different. The Paris Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and of Jean-Charles Marchiani. The charges against Pierre Falcone and Arcadi Gaydamak were also dropped. The Court of Appeal particularly recognized that they had acted under the authority of a "state mandate" issued by the Angolan government, which sought to "ensure the survival" of the country and that it was "in that context and while the situation worsened" that it had asked Pierre Falcone and Arcadi Gaydamak to acquire arms, food and medicine.


See also

*
Françafrique In international relations, () is France's sphere of influence (or in French, meaning 'backyard') over former French and Belgian colonies in sub-Saharan Africa. The term was derived from the expression , which was used by the first president ...
*
French political scandals This is a list of major political scandals in France. Until 1958 *1789: '' Réveillon riots'' - popular revolt from April 26- 28, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris. Considered a precursor to the Storming of the Bastille and the French Revolut ...
*
Iskandar Safa Iskandar Safa (born April 1952) is a French businessman of Lebanese origin. Together with his brother Akram Safa, he is the owner of Privinvest Holding, a major international naval construction group. In addition to this, Iskandar Safa and his ...
* ZTS-OSOS


References


External links


Israeli Police Work Cast Under Discredit
AIA {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitterrand-Pasqua affair Angolan Civil War Military history of Angola 1990s in Angola 1990s in France François Mitterrand Angola–France relations