PARIS: Loik Le Floch-Prigent, extradited to Togo after his arrest in a fraud probe, led several top French firms and hobnobbed with France's political elite before a long fall from grace that saw him serve several jail terms.
Le Floch-Prigent, who turns 69 next week, rose quickly through the ranks of the French business world, serving as chief executive at pharmaceuticals group Rhone-Poulenc before taking the reins at the oil giant Elf in 1989, where he would stay until 1993.
He would later serve as head of Gaz de France and the national railway SNCF before being placed under investigation in 1996 in connection with a massive corruption scandal centring on formerly state-owned Elf.
The scandal, which reached into the heart of the French economic and political establishment, led to a trial that in 2003 served as the moment of truth for Le Floch-Prigent, who had long described himself as a victim.
The Paris criminal court shot down claims of innocence by the businessman, who was first jailed for five months in 1996 for misuse of company assets, and sentenced him to five years in prison.
It named him as the "the main person responsible for the Elf affair" and the man "behind most of the misappropriation of funds" committed at the firm that was taken over by Total in 2000.
After years of systematic denials before several courts which saw him at one point testify that he knew nothing about embezzlement and had been betrayed Le Floch-Prigent finally admitted the existence of huge slush funds.
Then he assumed responsibility for the elaborate system of bribes and commissions, even telling the court he had benefitted indirectly from certain deals, but maintained he knew nothing about how the network worked.
But Le Floch-Prigent's former colleagues turned on him, with his ex-deputy Alfred Sirven also sentenced to five years in jail in the 2003 trial accusing him of authorizing pay-outs and deciding how commissions be shared.
Sirven also claimed that Le Floch-Prigent, who currently works as an oil industry consultant, had directly asked that Elf pay his personal expenses for a total of 106 million French francs (16 million euros, 19 million dollars).
Le Floch-Prigent, who suffers from several ailments including the skin complaint psoriasis, had begun serving a 30-month sentence on related charges before the 2003 verdict.
He was freed on probation in 2004 on health grounds, on condition that he pay compensation, at a rate based on his own revenues, to Total for the case involving Elf.
But he was sent back to jail for six months in 2010 for failing to pay adequate compensation to Total.
His latest arrest came on Saturday in the west African nation of Ivory Coast, where he was detained in a probe involving a complaint from an Emirati businessman who alleges he was the victim of a $48-million fraud.
He was extradited to neighbouring Togo the same day and was due to be put before a judge on Monday for questioning, a government source there said.
But his lawyer in Paris denounced the move, calling it an "abduction" and saying his client appeared to be the victim of internal politics in Togo.
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