Gushing Greenbacks

Yes, conceded the defendant — a man named Yves Verwaerde — he had opened a $2 million Swiss bank account with the code name "Salad" in July 1991, when he was a Member of the European Parliament. It was his other employer at the time, the French oil company Elf, that asked him to open the account, he explained. The salad full of greenbacks was earmarked for Jonas Savimbi, the rebel leader in Angola, where Elf was negotiating important contracts.

Listening intently in the wood-paneled courtroom of the Paris Tribunal last week, Judge Michel Desplan had some questions....

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