Former Total executive questioned

Former Total executive questioned

Agence France-Presse, Nanterre, France

The former director of operations in Myanamar of French oil company Total has been questioned about the alleged use of forced labour in Myanmar to build a pipeline in the 1990s, a source close to the matter said.

The executive, Herve Madeo, who directed the Total subsidiary in Myanmar from 1992-1999, was questioned on Thursday by an investigating magistrate for about two hours at Nanterre in the western suburbs of Paris, the source said.

He was the first Total executive to be questioned by French legal officials investigating the allegations.

Madeo had been questioned as a so-called "assisted witness" giving him a status between that of an ordinary witness and that of someone who might be charged.

A lawyer for Madeo, Jean Veil, told AFP that anonymous plaintiffs had made "unfounded" allegations.

He said: "As is the case for non-governmental organizations, industrial and financial groups and notably Total do more for local populations by being present in some countries such as Burma (Myanmar) than do those who rant behind television cameras."

The questioning was the result of an investigation opened on October 9, 2001 following a complaint by two Myanmar nationals who said that they had been forced to work on the Yadana gas pipeline.

The pipeline, which carries liquefied gas from the Andaman sea off the south east of Myanmar to Thailand, was built from 1994 by a consortium of which Total was a member.

From the start of construction Total was accused by human rights activists and by political opposition to the military authorities in Myanmar of having used forced labour.

Total has consistently denied these allegations.