IT’S ALL ABOUT OOOIIILLL — er, and alimony:

THE former chairman of Elf-Aquitaine, the French oil group, apologised in court yesterday for “delegating” his divorce settlement to subordinates, who gave his ex-wife almost £2 million from a company slush fund.

Loik Le Floch-Prigent is on trial in Paris, along with 36 other defendants, on corruption charges relating to his period as chairman between 1989 and 1993. He is accused of using the firm’s money to appease his wife, Fatima Belaid, as they went through a divorce in 1991. . . .

M Le Floch-Prigent has said that he asked his colleagues to handle the divorce settlement when his “passionate love affair” with Mme Belaid turned into a “nightmare”. He said that she subjected him to “psychological harassment that was incompatible with the role of company chairman”.

Hmm. Think she was threatening to spill the beans on something unless she was paid off?

And funny, isn’t it, how some people were saying that the Enron scandal was proof of the bankruptcy of “American-style capitalism?” I wonder why those people aren’t so eager to take lessons from this scandal regarding “European style crony capitalism?”

UPDATE: This item from The Economist is amusing:

Wim Duisenberg agreed to an indefinite extension of his tenure as president of the European Central Bank past his planned retirement in July, until a (French) successor is found. Jean-Claude Trichet, the leading candidate, is awaiting verdict in a trial relating to a 1980s financial scandal. If he is found guilty, the French have a couple of other candidates up their sleeves.

And stellar folks they are, I’m sure. (Via Corporate Lackey).