The FT reports this morning that:
A Paris judge has launched an investigation into allegations that Total, the French oil and gas group, paid bribes to win a $2bn gas contract in Iran almost a decade ago.
The money paid is, almost inevitably, in Switzerland.
I'd love to think that this sort of activity has stopped now. I have no reason to do so. as the FT also reports:
The move is a further blow for Christophe de Margerie, Total's head of exploration and production, who was involved in negotiating the Iranian South Pars contract and is due to take over as chief executive in February.
I don't for a minute suggest that the IFRS I have proposed on country-by-country reporting will stop corruption, but it will help throw light on what is happening within groups. That's incredibly important.
And the TJN's approach to corruption will also help. In contrast to Transparency International, we think Switzerland a very dirty place indeed.
But what's really required is a change in the attitude of accountants and auditors to corruption, be it of the sort alleged here, or on taxation. What have KPMG and Ernst & Young, joint auditors to Total got to say on this? Nothing, I suspect. They'll dismiss it as immaterial no doubt. But it isn't. If a company can pay bribes it is rotten to the core. And in that case who can trust what it says? Auditors do have a duty to address this issue: it's part of the control environment, and one that Sarbox has not, I suspect, tackled.
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Remember ELF? Same old, same old and in France. Again.
We should not be surprised by this in a country that, in effect, condones corruption even by its leaders (see for example the Chirac’s huge Fauchon food bills paid by the State). To quote from Chariots of Fire “they’re an unprincipled lot, the Frogs”.
Roger – as someone who lived in La Belle France for some years –
I can tell you your analysis is both nonsense and racist.
Dennis, as someone who lived and worked (for French companies) for 6 years in Paris and Chantilly, and who shared an office in London with a Big 8 French tax partner, I can tell you that my analysis is neither nonsense nor racist and reflects the general views of my ex French colleagues.
Maybe things were different for you in the sticks of France.
I remember well a French finance journalist visiting my newsroom in Rarotonga during a tour of Pacific Island offshore finance centres. After talking about the Winebox affair and similar silliness, I said to him: hang on a minute, why are you looking into small Pacific Islands when there are much bigger scandals like Credit Lyonnais?
“It is,” he said, and yes, he shrugged, “the French way.”