In France, the appeal trial of the financial aspect concerning the Karachi affair will open early in the afternoon this Monday, June 3, in Paris. In 2020, six people were sentenced to sentences ranging from two to five years in prison for their role in a system of hidden commissions on arms contracts and in particular the sale of submarines with Saudi Arabia and the Pakistan.
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Among the six defendants, the sulphurous Franco-Lebanese businessman: Ziad Takieddine and his associate Abdul Rahman el-Assir. Sentenced at first instance in 2020 to 5 years in prison, the two men were at the head of the K network, suspected of having transferred large sums of money to the entourage of Édouard Balladur, then Prime Minister, to finance his 1995 presidential campaign.
Ziad Takieddine, who fled France the day before his conviction at first instance, will not be present at the trial this Monday, June 3, according to his defense.
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Among the other defendants, we find the head of Édouard Balladur’s campaign, Nicolas Bazire. Justice estimates that between 6 and 10 million francs – or around 2.3 million euros – landed illegally in his campaign accounts. Despite their conviction at first instance, the six defendants continue to proclaim their innocence.
Suspicions of hidden financing of Édouard Balladur’s campaign emerged in 2010 during the investigation into an attack committed in 2002 in Karachi, Pakistan, in which 15 people, including 11 French people, were killed. Former Prime Minister Édouard Balladur was acquitted in 2021 by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only authority authorized to judge members of the government for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions. She considered that the existence of “instructions” from Édouard Balladur was not proven. François Léotard, Minister of Defense at the time of the events and since deceased, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.
Read alsoKarachi affair: Édouard Balladur acquitted, François Léotard suspended sentence
This trial, which is due to last until June 20, is a new legal stage in this case which began on May 8, 2002 in Karachi, a city in Pakistan where an attack occurred which killed 11 French people who worked at the construction of submarines. The initially favored avenue of an al-Qaeda terrorist attack then gave way to a still unconfirmed scenario of Pakistani reprisals for the decision of Jacques Chirac, winner of the 1995 presidential election, to stop the payment. of commissions which would have been used to finance his opponent.
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