By Upstream staff
French giant Total said today that its chief executive Christophe de Margerie would return to work, adding it was “business as usual” after he was placed under formal investigation by a judge in an inquiry into kickbacks related to a 1997 gas deal in Iran.
De Margerie, who was detained on Wednesday, was freed without bail late last night but put under formal investigation for “corruption of foreign officials” and “misuse of company assets”, a preliminary step before a possible trial.
“I haven’t seen him coming in yet, but of course he will be in the office today,” a Total spokesman said. “It’s business as usual.”
De Margerie remains under judiciary control, a measure that obliges him to remain at the disposal of the judge, but Total said nothing prevented him from resuming his duties.
Magistrates opened the probe last year and de Margerie, Total’s head of Middle East operations from 1995 to 1999, has had the prospect of an investigation hanging over him since he took over as chief executive in February.
De Margerie, a 55-year-old Taittinger heir who turned his back on the family champagne business to build his whole career at Total instead, has denied wrongdoing.
He is already under investigation in a separate inquiry into alleged United Nations sanctions-busting in Iraq.
Paris prosecutors began investigating the 1997 South Pars gas contract between Total and Iran in December after the discovery of 95 million Swiss francs ($78.6 million) in the Swiss bank of an intermediary, judicial sources told Reuters.
Total has denied wrongdoing in the case and in another case over the United Nations oil-for-food programme that eased Saddam-era sanctions on Iraq.
The probe comes as Total is considering taking part in a project worth nearly $10 billion to build Iran’s first liquefied natural gas export terminal.
High-profile formal investigations are common in France and can drag on for years.
23 March 2007 08:46 GMT | last updated: 23 March 2007 08:46 GMT
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
