Total chief held in Iran kickbacks probe

By Thierry Leveque and Marie Maitre

PARIS (Reuters) - The new chief executive of French oil company Total spent the night in police custody after being questioned on Wednesday for the second time in six months over alleged kickbacks in Middle East energy deals.

Judicial sources said Christophe de Margerie and two other serving executives, including Total's finance director, faced several hours of questions on an offshore gas deal with Iran.

Late on Wednesday evening, Total said the two executives detained with de Margerie had been released and named them as Chief Financial Officer Robert Castaigne and Philippe Boisseau, who oversees the group's gas and power business.

"They answered questions and have returned home and will be in the office tomorrow," a Total spokesman said.

A judicial source said de Margerie's two colleagues, as well as two unnamed former executives, walked free without charge.

De Margerie, who ran Total's Middle East operations at the time of the 1997 Iranian deal, is already under investigation in a separate probe into U.N. sanctions-busting in Iraq.

He was named chief executive of the world's fourth largest oil company last month.

Financial markets shrugged off the questioning, with shares in Total ending flat at 49.88 euros. French businesses are often targeted in corruption scandals that can drag on for years.

In a long-prepared handover, De Margerie inherited his chief executive job from Thierry Desmarest, who stayed on as non-executive chairman -- something investors cautiously view as a "plan B" in the event of upheaval at the top of France's biggest company.

"Investors are waiting to see how things develop and if these developments go against Total, then this would certainty pressure the stock," said an analyst, who asked not to be named.

"If things escalate, people think Thierry Desmarest would probably come back at the helm of the group, but they would still be worried because it means they would not get the smooth transition they thought they would get."

De Margerie, a 55-year-old Taittinger heir who turned his back on the family champagne business to build his whole career at Total instead, was being held at the headquarters of the French police's financial crime squad in southwest Paris.

TOTAL CONFIDENT

Under French law, police can hold de Margerie for 48 hours until Friday before deciding whether to take the case further.

The judicial source said he may be brought as early as Thursday before a French judge empowered to place him under formal investigation, a step which may or may not lead to trial.