The French government came under pressure Wednesday to reveal what it knew about illegal 1990s arms sales to Africa, a day after the men who ran the smuggling network were sentenced to jail.
"The president of the republic was aware of the weapons sales to Angola, the prime minister was aware, most ministers also," former interior minister Charles Pasqua told France 2 television late Tuesday.
"I think the time has come to bring this to the light of day," said Pasqua, who was ordered jailed for a year Tuesday for his part in the sales.
Opposition politicians on Wednesday also called for the government to declassify official documents in the wake of the trial dubbed "Angolagate" that ended Tuesday with jail sentences or fines for 36 people.
The trial exposed a ring of corruption at the highest levels of Parisian politics. One court document stated that French authorities were aware of the sales "at the latest by the end of 1995."
Government spokesman Luc Chatel said Wednesday that if a judicial request to lift official secrecy regarding the affair was made, "the relevant minister would at that time examine it."
The huge Soviet-made arsenal that fuelled Angola's grim civil war included 420 tanks, 150,000 shells, 170,000 anti-personnel mines, 12 helicopters, and six warships and was worth 790 million dollars.
Sales began when president Francois Mitterrand, a socialist, was in power in 1993 and continued until 1998, three years after conservative Jacques Chirac succeeded him.
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