Madagascar
Prez Denies
Paris Trip
Paid by
Companies,
Explains 4x4s,
IMF
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
17 -- When new
Madagascar
president Hery
Rajaonarimampianina
came to the UN
on March 17,
Inner City
Press
asked him not
only about the
International
Monetary Fund
but also
about two
transparency
questions.
Who
paid for his
vacation in
Paris
in late
December, and
what about the
fleet of 4 by
4's in front
of
his
presidential
palace
recently? Video
here, from
Minute 7:19; here
in
French.
Rajaonarimampianina
replied
that "I can
afford to pay
my own
holidays." But
African
Intelligence
has reported
in great
detail that
the French
construction
firm Eiffage
and others
paid for the
trip:
"All
their expenses
(hotels,
meals, river
boat trip,
armoured car,
bodyguards and
taxi-plane
between
Marseille and
Paris to catch
the
home-bound
flight on Air
Madagascar)
were covered
by companies
Michel
Scarbonchi had
contacted....
Socialist
leader Jean
Christophe
Cambadélis
whom
Scarbonchi
called on the
telephone and
then handed
over to Hery.
On the other
hand, Hery
received the
heads of the
companies
sponsoring his
vacation: the
Africa head of
the
construction
company
Eiffage and
representatives
of SMBs,
mainly in
the
agriculture
sector."
Now,
Rajaonarimampianina
has outright
denied this,
on camera.
What next?
On
the 4 by 4s,
Rajaonarimampianina
told Inner
City Press
these were
donated to
another
candidate who
didn't make it
to the second
round,
then given to
him by the
manufacturer.
RFI has
written about
this,
but didn't ask
a business
question until
after that of
Inner City
Press and the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
formed due to
censorship
by the old
UN
Correspondents
Association,
including a
board member
from Agence
France Presse.
AFP was
present on
March 17
but asked...
nothing.
(Nor at the UN
is French
Ambassador Gerard
Araud asked
about his
country's
continued sale
of Mistral
warships to
Russia,
despite his
speeches
condemning
Russia on
Crimea.)
While
Rajaonarimampianina
dodged Inner
City Press'
IMF question,
he later
said the IMF
is open to a
program, and
that he will
meet with the
IMF
(and World
Bank) in
Washington. We
hear he'll
meet with
Susan Rice as
well. And
Exxon? Watch
this site.
, 
