Libération (France)
La chasse aux biens mal acquis entrouverte
Hunt may begin for ill-gotten gains

Omar Bongo, president of Gabon since 1967, occupies the front page of today’s Libération. The left-wing French paper is going big on the news that a Paris judge has finally agreed to launch an investigation of corruption of African leaders after the NGO Transparency International filed a lawsuit. Among the questions are: where does the money in the dozens of French bank accounts these men hold come from, and how did they pay for the millions of euros worth of property and luxury automobiles they own in France? The suspicion is that they have been embezzling public funds from their own still-impoverished countries.

Libération reports that Transparency International has hailed this decision as "historic" and gives details about the dozens of bank accounts, luxury cars and flats in the swankiest areas of Paris and Nice that Bongo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and Teodoro Obiang Nguema, son of the Equatorial Guinea leader, possess. Bongo, for one, goes around in a 230,000-euro Ferrari when he’s in Paris.

As Libération’s editorial titled Promesse (Promise) puts it, the list of properties is certainly eyebrow-raising enough to merit investigation. The editorial argues that Nicolas Sarkozy ought to be seeing this case as the ideal opportunity to break with the old ways of “Françafrique”. He had promised during his election campaign that Paris would no longer pander to African dictators.

But the government doesn’t seem to want to take that opportunity – in fact the Paris public prosecutor’s office may appeal the decision. And what’s interesting is that while this is the main story in Libération (and has been headline news on FRANCE 24 as well, I might add), Le Figaro doesn’t even think it’s worth mentioning.

All there is in the pro-government paper is a tiny news-in-brief story saying Omar Bongo is temporarily suspending his functions as president in order to grieve for his wife, who died in March.

It shows just how much the case embarrasses the French establishment, which has had extremely close relations with these African leaders, and Omar Bongo in particular, for decades. For them, and for Le Figaro, the less said the better about this affair.


Le Figaro
Le Sénat tchèque approuve le traité de Lisbonne
The Czech Senate approves the Lisbon Treaty

Le Figaro has other priorities, not least the Lisbon Treaty on European Union reform, which is back on track, says the paper, after the Czech Senate ratified it.

Lidove Noviny (Czech Republic)
Klaus: Ceské elity selhaly
Klaus: Czech elite has failed

Of course, the deeply eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus isn’t too happy about that. On the front page of Lidove Noviny, he is quoted as saying the Czech leadership has failed – according to the headline.

Hospodarske Noviny (Czech Republic)
Senát schválil Lisabon, Václav Klaus bojuje dál
Senate approves Lisbon, Václav Klaus fights on

Hospodarske Noviny carries another picture of the stubborn head of state looking grim. The paper says Klaus still doesn’t want to sign the document and is going to wait until autumn and consult the constitutional court. The leader of the opposition, Jiri Paroubek, says Klaus himself is pushing the limits of his constitutional role.


The Guardian (UK)
Chelsea hearts broken by late, late Iniesta goal for Barcelona

El Periodico (Spain)
El Barça de Guardiola pot amb tot
Guardiola’s Barça can do anything

L’Equipe (France)
Miraculés!
Saved by a miracle!

Stories from England, Spain and France show three different ways of treating Wednesday night’s European Champions League semi-final, in which Barcelona snatched a final berth from Chelsea with a goal in the third minute of stoppage time. The Guardian says the night was a sad one and will be remembered for poor refereeing, a poor management decision by Guus Hiddinck and poor behaviour from Didier Drogba. The Catalan paper El Periodico just describes Barça manager Pep Guardiola being “beside himself with joy” at a result he felt his team fully deserved, while the French sports paper l’Equipe was impartial, describing the result as a "miracle" for Barcelona – after all, Iniesta’s goal came from the team’s only set-up that was on target.