Last week, Renaud van Ruymbeke, the Paris prosecutor, accused Andre Tarallo, Elf’s former Africa manager, of corruption in nine cases, all related to the management of the company’s transactions in several West African countries as well as in Spain and Germany. The charges include illegal financing of French political parties, and managing illegal bank accounts in Liechtenstein and Switzerland on behalf of African dictators, as well as in helping them invest the money in France and other European countries.