/ 14 February 2001

JUDGES PROBE DOS SANTOS CAR

FRENCH judges looking into allegations of unauthorised arms sales to Angola are focusing on the gift of a luxury armour-plated car to President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos. The vehicle – worth 1.3 million francs ($186 000) – was paid for partly by Brenco International, the arms trading company whose president Pierre Falcone is in prison facing possible criminal charges. Falcone is suspected of having organised shipments of arms to Angola worth $500m in 1993 and 1994, using the aid of Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, the son of the late president, who is also under investigation in the affair. – AFP