Étienne Léandri was an intermediary close to Charles Pasqua

Charles Pasqua

Charles Pasqua is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur...

. He took part in the negotiations concerning many important international contracts, and represented, among others, the interests of Elf

Elf Aquitaine

Elf Aquitaine was a French oil company which merged with TotalFina to form TotalFinaElf. The new company changed its name to Total in 2003...

, Thomson CSF and Dumez.

Inventor

He was the inventor of the "Gazogene", a type of gas producer

Wood gas generator

A wood gas generator is a gasification unit which converts timber or charcoal into wood gas, a syngas consisting of atmospheric nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, traces of methane, and other gases, which - after cooling and filtering - can then be used to power an internal combustion engine or...

 for automobiles.

Vichy Regime

Under the Vichy regime

Vichy France

Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

, Léandri wore the uniform of the Gestapo

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

.

CIA

He was protected by the CIA after the Liberation, and became, along with Pasqua, one of the founders of the Gaullist Service d'Action Civique

Service d'Action Civique

The SAC , officially created in January 1960, was a Gaullist militia founded by Jacques Foccart, Charles de Gaulle's chief adviser for African matters, and Pierre Debizet, a former Resistant and official director of the group...

(SAC) in 1958. This organization, charged with underground operations for the Gaullist movement, was dissolved by Socialist

Socialist Party (France)

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...

 President François Mitterrand

François Mitterrand

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...

 in 1982 after the Auriol massacre.

Businessman

During the war, he was a business associate of the American pharmaceutical and perfume manufacturer, E. Virgil Neal, of Tokalon; and, according to some accounts, Léandri had become Director of Tokalon by 1944.

Léandri was involved in various political scandal

Political scandal

A political scandal is a kind of political corruption that is exposed and becomes a scandal, in which politicians or government officials are accused of engaging in various illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices...

s, such as the Sofremi affair, for which Pasqua has been indicted, and the affair concerning the moving of the headquarters of the GEC-Alsthom Transport firms (for which Pasqua has also been indicted). In 1994 the second affair concerning Alstom generated a commission of 5.2 million Francs (790,000 Euros) paid by Pasqua to Étienne Léandri.

See also

• Charles Pasqua
  Charles Pasqua
  Charles Pasqua is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur...
  
  
• Service d'Action Civique
  Service d'Action Civique
  The SAC , officially created in January 1960, was a Gaullist militia founded by Jacques Foccart, Charles de Gaulle's chief adviser for African matters, and Pierre Debizet, a former Resistant and official director of the group...