Michel Roussin (born May 3, 1939 in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) was the chief of staff of Alexandre de Marenches, who directed the SDECE French secret service until the May 1981 election of

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

as President of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Michel Roussin has also been chief of staff of

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

when he was mayor of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and also when he was prime minister. Roussin then became minister of cooperation under

Édouard Balladur Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, co ...

's government. However, he had to resign, in accordance with the so-called Balladur jurisprudence because of suspected involvement in various affairs concerning the illegal funding of Chirac's

Rally for the Republic The Rally for the Republic ( ; RPR ) was a Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaul ...

(RPR) party. Jailed for a time, Roussin was afterwards acquitted. However, on October 26, 2005, he was condemned to four years of prison on probation and a 50,000 EUR fine for his role in the corruption affair concerning high schools in the Paris region. Named to the direction of

SAE International SAE International is a global professional association and standards organization based in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, United States. Formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, the organization adopted its current name in 2006 to reflect bot ...

, a construction firm linked to Paribas bank, Roussin in 1997 followed this function with his presidency of the Africa committee of the MEDEF, the French employers organization;Medef Africa program
the ''

francophonie The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

'' delegation at Paris's municipal hall. He also presented himself as candidate to the presidency of the

Elf Aquitaine Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total ...

oil company. Roussin is also allegedly a member of the

masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

'' Grande Loge Nationale Française'' (GLNF).

Timeline

*1972-76: Military commander at the

Hôtel Matignon The Hôtel Matignon (, ) is the official residence of the Prime Minister of France. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, at 57 Rue de Varenne. The name Matignon is often used as a metonym for the governmental action of the French p ...

, residency of prime minister

. *1977-81: Chief of staff of Alexandre de Marenches at the SDECE. *1983: Worked for the president of the '' Compagnie Générale des Eaux'' *1984-86: Chief of staff of Jacques Chirac at the Paris municipal hall and then at Matignon *1993-94: Minister of cooperation under Edouard Balladur's government. *1994: Investigated in the frame of the " Jean-Claude Méry affair". He resigns from his ministerial functions, but is then acquitted. *1996: President of SAE International, a subsidiary of the Eiffage group. He is charged of a special committee on Africa by the Medef's direction. *1999: Death of Jean-Claude Méry. *2000: Daily newspaper ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' publish the integral content of Jean-Claude Méry's posthumous videocassette, in which Jean-Claude Méry, member of the executive committee of the RPR party, declared having given 5 million francs in cash to Michel Roussin, then Chirac's chief of staff, "in the presence of Mr. Chirac". Investigative magistrate Eric Halphen would convoque on these grounds president Chirac as witness in March 2001.

References

;Notes ;Sources * François-Xavier Verschave, ''Noir Chirac'', Editions les Arènes (2000), chapter 10 "Michel Roussin de Paris à Rangoon via Abidjan".

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roussin, Michel 1939 births Living people People from Rabat Politicians of the French Fifth Republic French politicians convicted of corruption Rally for the Republic politicians

Timeline

See also

References

External links