Oil giant Total fined 500,000 euros by Paris court for Iran corruption

PARIS: A French court on Friday fined oil giant Total 500,000 euros ($575,000) for corruption after finding it guilty of paying bribes while bidding for a huge gas contract in Iran in 1997.

The French company was accused of paying 30 million dollars in bribes to middlemen, in return for help in securing the lucrative South Pars gas concession. In 2013 the company paid 398 million dollars in the US to settle a similar case before it went to trial.