M. Pasqua's buddy Bernard Guillet has cleared his name with deft, telling denials. Now, guess who was behind his oil troubles?

FORMER AIDE 'CLAIMS IRAQ OFFERED PASQUA OIL BRIBE'

PARIS, May 18 (AFP) - The French daily [Le Monde] said a former aide to Pasqua who is under investigation in France in connection with the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq, Bernard Guillet, told an examining magistrate that Pasqua had been offered oil allocations.

Guillet reportedly said former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz had told him "that Iraq wanted to thank Pasqua for the role he played in 1993 when he organized the first visit for a high-level official in France."

Guillet denied ever receiving any oil allocations himself, and contested charges that he had "served as an intermediary so that Charles Pasqua could receive such allocations".

But he did admit to French magistrate Philippe Courroye that he had met with Iraqi officials tasked with the commercialization of Iraqi oil.

Last month, Guillet, 59, was placed under judicial investigation in France - one step shy of formal charges - as part of a corruption probe connected with the UN oil-for-food programme.

French investigators believe Guillet received commissions from a middleman who brokered the resale of Iraqi oil.

But when questioned on April 28 by Courroye, Guillet said the documents the French judge was using for his probe were suspect, adding: "I think the Americans created false documents."

The French probe is largely based on information gathered by the [UN] independent commission of inquiry into the oil-for-food programme led by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

There you have it. The bad old Americans caught out by M. Guillet's surmise and M. Pasqua's drowsy speculations following a heavy lunch of stewed lampreys. Will these two servants of France now be left alone to further heap glory on France?

Alas, fancy is not admissible as evidence in most courts.