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President Bongo Loses Court Case Against Ex-Official at Oil Group Elf

12-26-2007

A Paris court has thrown out a suit for millions of euros (dollars) brought by Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba against a former adviser and ex-official at French oil group Elf, a source said.

The court ruled inadmissible the complaint lodged by the Gabonese president who was demanding that Andre Tarallo transfer ownership of two properties in Corsica and in Paris to him along with millions of euros.

Tarallo, who was the top official responsible for African affairs at Elf, served as an adviser for Bongo in the 1990s and had admitted in another trial for corruption that he had handled funds on behalf of the president.

The Paris court ruled that Tarallo had been convicted of embezzling the funds in question in a separate trial in March 2005 and that Gabon could not pursue a case that had been settled by a criminal tribunal.

Tarallo was sentenced in 2005 to seven years in prison and fined two million euros.