Sarkozy pressured over Pakistan arms deal allegations

[uday]

PARIS: French opposition lawmakers on Thursday called on President Nicolas Sarkozy to give all details of any links to suspected kickbacks on arms deals that were allegedly used to fund political campaigns.

Three deputies spoke out after a police report alleged that a company set up with Sarkozy’s approval channelled money from arms deal commissions to fund political activities in France.

A news website quoted a police report as saying that Sarkozy oversaw the establishment in Luxembourg of two companies, when he was budget minister under former prime minister Edouard Balladur.

In May 2002 a bomb in Karachi killed 11 French naval engineers who were in Pakistan to build the submarines.

A French judge investigating the attack suspects it may have been carried out in revenge for the cancelled bribes.

A Socialist deputy who headed a parliamentary commission on the Karachi attack, was quoted by Le Parisien newspaper on Thursday as saying: “the government is doing everything to obstruct the truth.”

However, a government spokesman has dismissed the allegations as “a serial fairytale” and said the government is cooperating with an investigation by a French judge. afp

 

[sparklingway]

There were reports within months of the attack that it might not have been a terrorist attack rather conducted by people involved in procurement.