By Angela Charlton and Pierre-Antoine Souchard
Associated Press
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

PARIS, Oct. 6 -- The son of a former French president, an Israeli-Russian billionaire and a tycoon with ties to Arizona's jet set were among the headliners Monday as 42 defendants went on trial in Paris, accused in a global web of trafficked arms to Angola, money laundering and kickbacks.

Defense lawyers and Angola's government are trying to stop the show, however, arguing the trial has no right to go on.

Prosecutors allege that between 1993 and 1998, two key suspects -- French magnate Pierre Falcone, a longtime resident of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Arkady Gaydamak, an Israeli businessman based in France at the time -- organized a total of $791 million in Russian arms sales to Angola, a breach of French government rules.

Most of the other suspects are accused of receiving money or gifts, undeclared to tax authorities, from a company run by Falcone in exchange for political or commercial favors.

Investigators say the corruption grew into a tangle of laundered money and parallel diplomacy that left a stain on France's relations with Africa.

Most of the defendants were on hand, with the notable exception of Gaydamak, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant. Among those who filed into a Paris courthouse Monday were icons of France's political elite -- including former president François Mitterrand's eldest son, Jean-Christophe, and an economic adviser to current President Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Attali.

Lawyers for Falcone and Gaydamak argue that there is no reason to pursue the case in a French court because the weapons never crossed into French territory. But prosecutors cite the use of a French bank and French companies in the deals.

The case has rankled Angola's leadership. A lawyer representing the country, Francis Teitgen, said Monday that he would seek to have the trial called off "to protect the rights attached to its sovereignty."

Angola considers many documents used by the prosecution to be defense secrets, Teitgen said. Neither Angola nor any of its citizens is a party to the case.