A former controller-general Jean-Louis Porchier of the French armed forces told parliament that former French PM Edouard Balladur financed his presidential campaign with kick-backs on the sale of submarines to Pakistan.
Porchier's evidence is of major importance to an investigation into the murders of 11 French naval engineers in Pakistani, where they were to build one of the three submarines.
Porchier questions the role of President Nicolas Sarkozy who was then Balladur's budget minister and his election campaign spokesman.
The relatives of the murdered engineers accused Sarkozy of covering up evidence from an independent judicial investigation into their deaths in a bomb blast in Karachi.
The anti-terrorist magistrate leading the investigation into their deaths, in a bomb attack in 2002, believes a dispute over the kickbacks motivated the attack.
*** Until recently, the officially-supported theory was that Al-Qaeda was responsible.
### looks like buying/selling French military hardware is dirty business...........why M'sia buy French subs leh............and why S'pore buy French frigates leh ???...............LOL