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As
Hollande-Defended
BNP Settles,
Guilty Sudan
Knowledge
Shown
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June
30 -- On
Iran earlier
this month
French foreign
minister Fabius
has said that
Iran wants
hundreds of
thousands of
centrifuges
and that
France is
drawing the
line there,
copying itself
from 2013.
But how
strange:
Francois
Hollande and
Fabius
defended BNP
Paribas'
violation of
not only Sudan
but also Iran
sanctions,
while loudly
playing
hardball.
Playing is the
operative
word.
On June 30 as
BNP settled
for $8.8
billion but no
jail time, the
"Statement of
Facts" released
shows BNP's
guilty knowledge:
a
“senior BNPP
Paris
compliance
officer
reminded other
high-level
BNPP
compliance and
legal
employees
that certain
Sudanese banks
with which
BNPP dealt
'play a
pivotal
part in the
support of the
Sudanese
government...
A BNPP Paris
executive with
responsibilities
for compliance
across all
BNPP
branches
warned in a
memorandum
that: 'In a
context where
the
International
Community puts
pressure to
bring an end
to the
dramatic
situation in
Darfur, no one
would
understand why
BNP Paribas
persists
[in Sudan]
which could be
interpreted as
supporting the
leaders in
place."
So given
Hollande's and
Fabius'
defenses of
BNP, how
should their
pontification,
on Sudan and
other UN
files, be
interpreted?
With the July
20 deadline to
conclude the
Iran nuclear
talks looking
more
uncertain, how to
compare
France's
hard-line
position on
Iran and
sanctions
violations now
that Francois
Hollande and
Laurent Fabuis
are actively
defending
sanctions
violations,
not only to
Sudan but also
Iran, by BNP
Paribas? A new
dynamic? Watch
this site.
* * *
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