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Great White North |
How Montreal's Power Corp. got caught up in Oil for Food fiasco |
2005-03-10 |
![]() Just a month before the Canada Free Press revealed that Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, is a member of Power Corp.'s international advisory boardand a close friend and personal adviser to Power's owner, Paul Desmarais Sr.a U.S. congressional investigation into the UN scandal discovered that Power Corp. had extensive connections to BNP Paribas, a French bank that had been handpicked by the UN in 1996 to broker the Oil-for-Food program. In fact, Power actually once owned a stake in Paribas through its subsidiary, Pargesa Holding SA. The bank also purchased a stake in Power Corp. in the mid-seventies and, as recently as 2003, BNP Paribas had a 14.7 per cent equity and 21.3 per cent voting stake in Pargesa, company records show. John Rae, a director and former executive at Power (brother of former Ontario premier Bob Rae), was president and a director of the Paribas Bank of Canada until 2000. And Power Corp. director Michel François-Poncet, who was, in 2001, the vice-chairman of Pargesa, also sat on Paribas's board, though he died Feb. 10, at the age of 70. A former chair of Paribas's management board, André Levy-Lang, is currently a member of Power's international advisory council. And Amaury-Daniel de Seze, a member of BNP Paribas's executive council, also sat on Pargesa's administrative council in 2002. |
Posted by:trailing wife |
#5 How Montreal’s Power Corp. got caught up in Oil for Food fiascoThe same way the others got "caught up" in it - GREED. |
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-03-10 12:13:05 PM |
#4 Just a month before the Canada Free Press revealed that Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, is a member of Power Corp.’s international advisory board–and a close friend and personal adviser to Power’s owner, Paul Desmarais Sr.–a U.S. congressional investigation into the UN scandal wow! This is huge. Not that it will get the play it deserves - but still huge. |
Posted by: 2b 2005-03-10 9:57:42 AM |
#3 Now, what was that again about Volker being a unbiased outside investigator? |
Posted by: Steve 2005-03-10 8:16:41 AM |
#2 I'll wait till I hear the response to the extradition order, but I'm ready to fortify the longest unguraded border in the world. They're a bunch of Euroweenies up there. |
Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-03-10 7:31:36 AM |
#1 Money. Power. Incest. Power Corp didn't get "caught up" in the OFF Scam, it was at the center of the web. Rae, Francois-Poncet, et al are as dirty as they can be. I hope this gets very very ugly, nasty, and vicious as they get rolled into the investigation ... we have an extradition agreement with Kanada. How they react will tell us much about our future relations. The tens of thousands of mfg jobs exported across the border, the incredible level of trade with the US, etc. could all be on the line. Time for a Northern Friendship Fence to match the sorely needed Southern Friendship Fence. |
Posted by: .com 2005-03-10 6:30:30 AM |