Former French Naval Commando Sentenced for Illegal Arms Deals with African Nations

After a judgment on September 24, this 52-year-old man, manager of two companies in Caen (Calvados), received a new conviction on October 22. He would be involved in an arms trafficking case.

According to the explanations he provided during the hearing at the Caen Criminal Court, he was working in connection with the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), to trade in war material with several African countries. "My original idea was to offer the necessary equipment to protect oil fields from terrorist attacks," he said.

Unexpectedly, he became a seller of lethal weapons without the authorization of the DGA. The institution had refused to grant him an authorization due to the indictment of one of the shareholders of his companies for "corruption of foreign public officials".

Nevertheless, he had delivered lethal weapons to Congo and Morocco. And it was intermediaries based in Panama or Luxembourg who helped him to transfer the funds.

The Caen resident was sentenced to three years in prison with a suspended sentence and a fine of 50,000 euros. He is also prohibited from managing a company for 15 years, and from holding or carrying a weapon for 5 years.