Cifal in turmoil. The French international trade company is the subject of a preliminary investigation for suspicion of corruption of a foreign public official, indicated this Friday, April 28 the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), confirming information from Challenges.
According to the magazine, the boss of Cifal, Gilles Rémy, was also heard in March by the police officers of the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (OCLCIFF). He would have pleaded his innocence, saying he was “a victim”.
Missioned in Russia
The investigation relates to a Cifal mission in 2021 in Russia. The group, which has existed for more than 70 years, was commissioned by the Congolese brokerage company Orion. This company has recently been talked about by the suspicions of corruption hanging over its leader, Lucien Ebata, also close to the President of Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Orion asked Cifal to find a Russian investor to sell its shares in the MBK oil field in Congo to. For this, Cifal appealed to François Fillon, figure of the right and former Prime Minister of Nicolas Sarkozy. Cifal paid him up to 45,000 euros to activate his contacts: Alexei Miller, boss of Gazprom, and Igor Setchin, boss of Rosneft, both close to Vladimir Putin.
According to a source familiar with the matter, no suspicion of corruption currently weighs on François Fillon. The former Prime Minister once sat on two boards of directors of Russian giants: Sibur, a petrochemical company, and Zarubezhneft, which operates in hydrocarbons. He must be heard on May 2 on his links with Moscow by the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry into foreign interference.
Lucien Ebata is under indictment for money laundering and corruption in the context of a judicial investigation opened by the PNF in 2020. Investigators are trying to find out if he embezzled oil money Congolese.