<p>An aide of French former president Nicolas Sarkozy was today charged in an illegal political funding scandal known as the "Karachi Affair", a complex probe into alleged kickbacks on arms deals.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Nicolas Bazire, the current number two of luxury group LVMH, was heard by judges for four hours and accused of handling illicit funds used for political campaigns.<br /><br />A former campaign manager for ex-prime minister Edouard Balladur, Bazire had been under investigation since September.<br /><br />Investigators are looking into irregularities in the financing of Balladur's 1995 presidential campaign. Sarkozy was Balladur's campaign spokesman and budget minister at the time.<br /><br />Judges suspect Balladur's campaign of receiving illicit "retro-commissions" from the sale of French submarines to Pakistan. Two Sarkozy political aides and a former minister are under formal investigation over the affair.<br /><br />Judges are also probing claims that a 2002 bombing in Karachi that killed 11 French naval engineers was carried out by Pakistani agents in revenge for the cancellation of bribes secretly promised to officials.<br /><br />The payment of arms sales commissions was legal in France until 2000, but the payment of kickbacks back to France was and is illegal.<br /><br />The probe focuses on the 1994 sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>An aide of French former president Nicolas Sarkozy was today charged in an illegal political funding scandal known as the "Karachi Affair", a complex probe into alleged kickbacks on arms deals.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Nicolas Bazire, the current number two of luxury group LVMH, was heard by judges for four hours and accused of handling illicit funds used for political campaigns.<br /><br />A former campaign manager for ex-prime minister Edouard Balladur, Bazire had been under investigation since September.<br /><br />Investigators are looking into irregularities in the financing of Balladur's 1995 presidential campaign. Sarkozy was Balladur's campaign spokesman and budget minister at the time.<br /><br />Judges suspect Balladur's campaign of receiving illicit "retro-commissions" from the sale of French submarines to Pakistan. Two Sarkozy political aides and a former minister are under formal investigation over the affair.<br /><br />Judges are also probing claims that a 2002 bombing in Karachi that killed 11 French naval engineers was carried out by Pakistani agents in revenge for the cancellation of bribes secretly promised to officials.<br /><br />The payment of arms sales commissions was legal in France until 2000, but the payment of kickbacks back to France was and is illegal.<br /><br />The probe focuses on the 1994 sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia.</p>