French judge files preliminary charges against oil giant Total in oil-for-food corruption case

France’s Total faces corruption investigation

PARIS — A judge brought preliminary charges against Total SA over allegations the French oil giant bribed foreign officials as part of its role in the scandal-ridden U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq.

An investigating judge filed the preliminary charges as part of a long-running French investigation into corruption in the program, according to details in the company’s annual financial report that it put online Friday.

Besides bribery, Total also faces preliminary charges of complicity and influence peddling in the case.

Investigators suspect that millions of dollars were used as under-the-table commissions to obtain entry to countries like Iraq — then under a U.N. embargo — and Russia, where Total was trying to get a foothold.

Total is suspected of having knowingly bought barrels of oil that Iraq allegedly provided to French intermediaries in exchange for their influence with French authorities, Total said in a statement. The investigating judge also suspects Total of bribing Iraqi public officials in order to buy barrels of oil in violation of the embargo, Total said.

Total insists it has abided by the rules of the U.N. oil-for-food program, which started in the 1990s and allowed Saddam Hussein to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods.

“We are confident about the investigation’s outcome and that Total will be cleared of these allegations,” Total said in a statement.

Under French law, preliminary charges mean the investigating magistrates have strong reason to suspect involvement in a crime, and give them more time to continue investigating.

A lawyer for Total criticized the decision to file the preliminary charges against the company because an investigation by another French magistrate was completed in 2007, and last September the prosecutor’s office recommended that charges be dropped against Total Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie and eight other Total employees.

“It’s a very strange situation, where a new judge has reread the file and now considers that it’s possible Total committed corruption even though there are no new elements in the dossier, because the investigation was completed” over two years ago, said Total attorney Jean Veil.

The $64 billion oil-for-food program was the biggest humanitarian program in U.N. history. A U.N.-sanctioned investigation led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker found widespread corruption. Its final report in October 2005 accused more than 2,200 companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam Hussein’s regime to bilk the humanitarian program of $1.8 billion.

Under the program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, Iraq was allowed to sell oil provided that most of the money went to buy humanitarian goods. It was aimed at easing Iraqi suffering under U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and was a lifeline for 90 percent of the country’s population.

Associated Press writer Pierre-Antoine Souchard in Paris contributed to this report.