By Inti Landauro
PARIS-- Total SA will face corruption charges in a French court
related to contracts made in Iran in the 1990s, a spokeswoman for
the Paris prosecutor said on Tuesday.
Paris magistrates have decided to put the big French oil company
on trial, along with two Iranian nationals. They had also planned
to put the company's former chief executive Christophe de Margerie
on trial, before he was killed in a plane crash at a Moscow airport
last month.
No date has been set for the trial yet, said the
spokeswoman.
The magistrates' decision follows a recommendation made last
year by the prosecutor to prosecute the company. Under French law,
magistrates can pursue corporations as well as individuals.
A Total spokesman on Tuesday confirmed the company had been
informed of the magistrate's decision to prosecute it, but he
declined to comment further.
Total has said in the past that the company and Mr. de Margerie
acted in accordance with all applicable French laws in regard to
the Iranian contracts in question. If convicted, the company could
face a fine of as much as 150,000 euros ($186,000).
The French probe into Total's Iranian activities was part of
coordinated legal action with the U.S. Department of Justice and
the Securities and Exchange Commission, which last year fined the
company a combined $398 million in the same case.
U.S. prosecutors alleged in court documents that Total bribed an
Iranian official to obtain lucrative oil and gas concessions, in
violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which is the 1977
law that bars companies that issue securities from paying bribes
overseas.
As part of the agreement with the Justice Department, the
company had agreed to hire an outside lawyer to oversee its
compliance with anticorruption laws and to invest in its internal
mechanisms to look for corrupt payments. After three years, the
Justice Department will drop criminal charges if prosecutors are
satisfied with Total's efforts.
The French and U.S. investigations began in earnest in the
mid-2000s. In 2007, a few months after he was appointed chief
executive of Total, Mr. de Margerie was questioned for 48 hours by
French police who were probing whether the oil company paid bribes
to win contracts. Total said at the time all payments were
legal.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
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