SPIES LOST €25M KITTY MEANT TO PRESERVE FRANCE

PARIS November 11, 2006 (Guardian) - French spies have lost [sic*] a secret war chest of €25m meant to fund a government-in-exile in the event of invasion or nuclear attack. The money was hidden in bank accounts and investments controlled by a handful of intelligence officers who passed on the details by word of mouth.

... In September 2002 former intelligence officer General Philippe Rondot told defence minister Michèle Alliot-Marie of "serious problems" with management of special funds allocated to the service, and that a large sum had been lost [sic*]. When police this year raided Gen Rondot's home as part of the Clearstream political scandal they found a note by the general saying:

"If it is normal for the DGSE to have a war chest it would be much better if this was immediately available in the event of crises or major operations that need to be undertaken urgently instead of serving to keep the mistresses of a handful of badly controlled DGSE racketeers."

Perhaps back in 1919 when the fund was established, a thrifty French government-in-exile might have made do till someone intervened and returned France to her rightful owners. But were the French government to go into exile tomorrow -- not an altogether unhappy thought for France -- and the defalcated €25M were to hand, the government would be hard pressed to keep Jack in truffles through the end of his tenure** -- Jack being notorious for his out-sized appetites.

* "Lost", of course, is, as General Rondot makes plain, a polite characterization for "stolen". The good news, if there is any, is that it's graft not incompetence. At least it's not a performance issue.

** The Élysée 2006 budget -- Jack's pin money, exclusive of the rest of the French government -- is officially €32.7M (scil., £22M, US$42M). But "Republican anomalies" may inflate this amount to some €82M (scil., £55M, US$105M) or more.

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