Édouard Balladur, the former prime minister of France, is alleged to have benefited from kickbacks ERIC FEFERBERG/GETTY IMAGESÉdouard Balladur, the former prime minister of France, is to stand trial on corruption charges over an arms deal that has been linked to an attack that killed 11 Frenchmen in Pakistan. The trial of Mr Balladur, 90, who led the government from 1993 to 1995, will bring some closure to a 17-year-old scandal in which senior politicians including the former presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy allegedly played a role. Mr Balladur, who was a lieutenant to Mr Chirac when he led the Gaullist party, now known as the Republicans, is alleged to have benefited from part of the €2 million in kickbacks that sprang from an order for French Agosta submarines negotiated with the government of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s prime minister at the…

Source: The Times October 01, 2019 23:03 UTC