Kazakhgate in France: Kazakhstan linked to Senator’s lost immunity
French senator, Aymeric de Montesquiou, has been deprived of parliamentary immunity. As a representative of President N. Sarkozy for Central Asia, de Montesquiou allegedly accepted remuneration for facilitating the conclusion of Franco-Kazakh contracts.
The Senate waived the immunity on 18 March, 2015. The politician is suspected of receiving payment for establishing contact between the French and Kazakh governments in 2010. The investigation into this case was initiated in 2012. The value of the contracts is estimated at EUR 2 billion. Agreements between Kazakhstan and France included the sale of 45 EUROCOPT helicopters and 295 locomotives.
In October 2014, police searched the mansion of the senator, who currently holds theposition of Mayor of Marsan. The charges levied against de Montesquiou include, among others, money laundering and bribery of foreign public officials. Other people, including former prefect and advisor to Sarkozy, Jean-François Etienne des Rosaies, are also suspected of involvement in the crime.
It is not the first case in which collaboration between French public servants and Akorda has been revealed. Recently, the Médiapart Agathe Duparc online portal presented previously unknown facts related the so-called ‘Kazakhleak’, the affair in which Bernard Squarcini, the former head of France’s internal intelligence agency, was involved.
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