LETTER FROM EUROPE
LETTER
FROM EUROPE
ABSTRACT: When French President Francois Mitterrand decided to
nationalize the banks in France, the biggest independent bank on the
list was the Compagnie Financiere de Paris et des Pays-Bas, or
Paribas. Using an astonishing "sleight-of-hand," Pierre Moussa, who
ran Paribas, liberated the bank's subsidiaries so that they would
not be nationalized as well. This move angered the Socialists, who
felt that by doing this Moussa had betrayed France in favor of his
bank. Writer tells about Mitterrand's economic experiments, and his
policy changes. Moussa was charged with being "interested in the
fraud" of four Paribas bankers and almost 400 clients, who had sent
180 million francs illegally into Swiss bank accounts. By the time
he came to trial, everyone knew that he was really on trial for
selling Paribas's foreign banks when the President wanted them.
Mitterrand had intended the Paribas trial as an object lesson. In
previous administrations, currency crimes had been handled privately
by the French customs bureau. The French were angered by the
President's enforcing his limits on the exporting of capital.
Describes the feelings of the French about money and their economic
history. About two weeks after Moussa was acquitted, Paribas's
subsidiaries re-sold their majority to France. Paribas-Suisse has
finally been nationalized. RETOUR-BACK
