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Charles Pasqua
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Charles Pasqua (born 18 April 1927, Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur. He was first elected deputy of the UDR Gaullist party in 1968, a decenny after having founded the Service d'Action Civique (SAC) organisation. Counsellor of Jacques Chirac alongside Marie-France Garaud, he was in charge of the organisation of Chirac's campaign for the 1981 presidential election, won by the candidate of the Socialist Party (PS), François Mitterrand (1981-1995).
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Charles Pasqua (born 18 April 1927, Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur. He was first elected deputy of the UDR Gaullist party in 1968, a decenny after having founded the Service d'Action Civique (SAC) organisation. Counsellor of Jacques Chirac alongside Marie-France Garaud, he was in charge of the organisation of Chirac's campaign for the 1981 presidential election, won by the candidate of the Socialist Party (PS), François Mitterrand (1981-1995). As such, he is considered to be Chirac's mentor in politics. However, he broke with Chirac before the 1995 presidential election, supporting against him the candidacy of Edouard Balladur for the neo-Gaullist party, the Rally for the Republic (RPR). He created in 1999 the euro-sceptic Rally for France and European Independence (RPF) party and allied himself with Philippe de Villiers's Movement for France (MPF) party for the 1999 European elections. President of the Conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine (General Council of the Hauts-de-Seine department) from 1988 to 2004, he broke with de Villiers after his success at these elections, arriving second after the Socialist Party. President of the Union for Europe of the Nations at the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004, he was re-elected senator of the Hauts-de-Seine in 2004 on the list of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP, successor to the RPR), a function which he had already held from 1977 to 1986, then from 1988 to 1993, and finally from 1995 to 1999.
Pasqua has been involved in various political scandals, including the Angolagate arms trafficking scandal, involving Pierre Falcone, the Sofremi affair, the Annemasse casino affair, another affair concerning the moving of the headquarters of Alstom company, as well as the Fondation Hamon affair. He has denied receiving money from Saddam Hussein's government during the course of the Oil-for-Food Programme, following the publication of his name in 2004 on the list published by Al Mada. Overall, Charles Pasqua has never been convicted of any personal wrongdoing in those scandals which many believe were instigated by political opponents.
Political career
Pasqua has a degree in Law. From 1952 to 1971 he worked for Ricard, a producer of alcoholic beverages (most notably pastis), starting as a salesman.
In 1947 he helped create the section of the Gaullist Party RPF movement for the Alpes-Maritimes.
With Jacques Foccart, he helped create the Service d'Action Civique (SAC) in 1959 to counter the terrorist actions of the OAS during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962). The SAC would be charged with the underground actions of the Gaullist movement and participated in the organization of the 30 May, 1968 Gaullist counter-demonstration; it was officially dissolved by President Mitterrand in 1982, after the "Auriol massacre" on the night of 18 July 1981 (the five members of the Auriol commando were condemned on 1 May, 1985 to sentences between 15 years of prison and life-sentences; however, the mastermind behind inspector Massié's murder was never identified).
From 1968 to 1973, he was deputy to the French National Assembly for the Hauts-de-Seine département for the UDR party, of which he was a leading member from 1974 to 1976. He helped Jacques Chirac to take the lead of the party and participated in its transformation into the Rally for the Republic (RPR).
From 1981 to 1986 he was senator for the Hauts-de-Seine, then president of the RPR group in the Senate.
From 1986 to 1988 he was Interior Minister (in charge of law enforcement). The left-wing opposition claimed, in vain, his resignation after the murder of Malik Oussekine by police, during the demonstration of young against the Devaquet law. He incarnated the "hard wing" of the Neo-Gaullist party, and tried to stop the flight of the RPR voters towards the National Front.
After Chirac's defeat at the 1988 presidential election, he criticized the abandonment of the Gaullist doctrine and the so moderate positions of the RPR. In 1990, he allied with Philippe Séguin and disputed Chirac's leadership. In 1992, he called a vote against the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty.
He became Interior Minister again from 1993 to 1995, and supported the candidacy of Edouard Balladur at the 1995 presidential election. He is mostly remembered for having pushed a series of anti-immigration laws (lois Pasqua), and for his declaration "we will terrorize the terrorists." He expelled CIA agents on charges of economic espionage .
Pasqua distanced himself in 1998 from RPR and Jacques Chirac, arguing that Chirac was not a true heir of Gaullism. He then headed the Rally for France (RPF), a sovereignist (Eurosceptic) party, for a while in association with Philippe de Villiers. At the 1999 European Parliament election, their list got ahead of the RPR list. However, his alliance with de Villiers split.
In 2002 he ran for president, but dropped out after allegedly failing to obtain the 500 representatives' signatures needed to enter the race. Many suspect that he decided not to run because Jean-Marie Le Pen's presence in the election did not leave him enough political space.
In 2003 he was elected a deputy to the European parliament. In 2004, he was elected senator by an electoral college. Many commentators alleged that this senate position, granting parliamentary immunity, was motivated by prosecution closing on Pasqua with respect to corruption practices in the Hauts-de-Seine département.
Charles Pasqua did not run in the 2007 presidential election.
Corruption scandals
He was named in corruption scandals concerning the public housing projects of the Hauts-de-Seine.
In 2004 his name appeared on the list, published by al Mada, of people who allegedly received corruption money from Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq during the course of the Oil-for-Food Program.
Following the publication of the Al Mada article, a US Senate report accused him, along with the British Respect MP, George Galloway, of receiving the right to buy oil under the UN's oil-for-food scheme. Pasqua denied the charges and pointed out that he never met Saddam Hussein, never been to Iraq and never cultivated any political ties with this country. In a lengthy written rebutal to the Senate report, Charles Pasqua pointed out further that since the oil vouchers were lifted by a legal entity incorporated in a European country, it should be relatively easy for investigators to uncover the masterminds behind the fraud instead of making accusations based on "sensational" press articles.
The investigations concerning the Annemasse's casino affair and the transfer of the headquarter of the transport subsidiary of GEC-Alstom to Saint-Ouen were closed in February 2007. In the first affair, he is suspected of having signed in 1994, while Interior Minister of Balladur, the authorisation of exploitation of the casino of Annemasse to Robert Feliciaggi, in exchange of future political funding support. Robert Felliciagi was assassinated in March 2006 in Ajaccio, Corsica. He had resold the casino in 1995, making an important profit . The second affair concerning Alstom generated in 1994 a commission of 5,2 million Francs (790,000 euros) versed to Etienne Léandri, a friend of Pasqua.
The Sofremi affair is still under investigation. It concerns funds versed between 1993 to 1995 by the Sofremi, a firm charged of exportation of arms and which depended of the Ministry of Interior, to people close to Pasqua.
Along with André Santini, Pasqua was also the subject of investigations concerning an affair related to the Jean Hamon donation. A wealthy Mecenate, Jean Hamon, had donated in 2000 to the department of the Hauts-de-Seine 192 works of art, estimated to be worth 192 millions euros. The Hauts-de-Seine, then led by Pasqua, was supposed to create a museum for them in Issy-les-Moulineaux, but the project was abandoned. An investigation was opened in 2003 when a judge based in Versailles demanded herself why the department had financed Jean Hamon the care and location of these works of art, for a total amount of 800,000 euros, which were stocked in a castle owned by the billionaire. Since the General Council continue to pay for a year after Nicolas Sarkozy's take-over of the department, the affair may also involve him . Sarkozy won the 2007 presidential election as the UMP candidate.
See also
External links
- US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 12 May2005,
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