French fighter jet tycoon arrested for allegedly buying mayoral votes in his pet suburb
French industrialist Serge Dassault, the billionaire manufacturer of fighter jets, was in custody Wednesday for alleged vote buying, a judicial source said.
The move comes a week after Dassault’s parliamentary immunity was lifted. The senator is suspected of buying votes in Corbeil-Essonnes, east of Paris, where he was formerly mayor.
He has been accused of running the suburb like a mafia don.
The 88-year-old is being grilled in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, the source said.
Dassault is ranked by Forbes magazine as France’s fourth-richest man and the 69th-richest in the world with an estimated fortune of 13 billion euros ($18 billion).
The judges suspect Dassault of operating an extensive system of vote buying which influenced the outcome of three mayoral elections in Corbeil in 2008, 2009 and 2010, which were won either by Dassault or by his successor and close associate Jean-Pierre Bechter.
The result of the 2008 vote, won by Dassault, was invalidated by the Council of State after the body which oversees public administration discovered a series of payments which could have influenced the outcome of the election.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
The suspect for the rape and murder of a young woman in northern France almost two decades ago was under guard in hospital Saturday after he swallowed pesticide in an apparent suicide bid following his conviction.
Willy Bardon, on trial over the murder of Elodie Kulik in 2002 in a case that has attracted strong interest in France for years, ingested the substance at the courthouse in the northern city of Amiens late on Friday.
Bardon had been sentenced to 30 years jail for kidnapping and holding a person against their will followed by death. He was however acquitted of murder.
Oil and gas groups were accused Saturday of seeking to influence climate talks in Madrid by paying millions in sponsorship and sending dozens of lobbyists to delay what scientists say is a necessary and rapid cut in fossil fuel use.
A day after tens of thousands marched in the Spanish capital demanding climate action, seven environmental groups raised concerns to AFP over the role of fossil fuel representatives at the COP25 summit.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations agreed to limit global warming to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and as close to 1.5C as possible.
A Saudi military student reportedly condemned America as a "nation of evil" in an online manifesto prior to opening fire Friday at a US naval base, killing three people before being shot dead by police.
The shooting, which took place in a classroom building at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, left eight others wounded, including two sheriff's deputies who responded to the attack.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the shooter was from Saudi Arabia -- the same nationality as 15 of the 19 men involved in the 9/11 attacks, some of whom attended civilian flight school in Florida.
Why Trump’s plot to ‘investigate the investigators’ is going up in a puff of smoke
Rick Santorum falls apart during CNN defense of Trump as fellow Republican Charlie Dent smirks
Trump’s undermining of efforts to fight Putin detailed in ex-CIA agent’s disturbing new column
The View audience goes wild after Meghan McCain gets schooled on Pelosi’s ‘don’t mess with me’ moment
Giuliani’s deceitful Ukraine business web should leave everyone speechless
Suspect swallows poison after verdict in French murder case
Fossil fuel groups ‘destroying’ climate talks: NGOs
Military base shooter assailed US as ‘nation of evil’
Elon Musk cleared of defamation over ‘pedo guy’ tweet
Team Trump wants to steal another election — and there’s only one way to beat them back
‘It’s only $4.99 per month’: Trump urges supporters to sign up for network that went to Ukraine with Giuliani
Maddow destroys ‘bad faith’ complaints about impeachment from Republican Trump supporters
Everyone is baffled by Trump’s rambling rant about flushing toilets ’10 times, 15 times’
Trump rages at new light bulbs during White House meeting for making him look orange