United states VS the World Law as an instrument of economic war

A former manager of Alstom delivers in a book testimony, entitled in french “ le Piege Americain. Otage de la plus grande entreprise de déstabilisation “ (The American trap. Hostage of the largest scheme of destabilization) that shone a gregarious light on the underside of the acquisition of the French company Alstom by General Electric (GE). Frédéric Pierucci, " a puppet in the hands of American justice", was the "victim of the strategy" of the CEO Patrick Kron. His personal story illustrates the economic war that the United States is wreaking on Europe to seize its industrial nuggets, using justice as a lever to bend the companies concerned, through physical constraints demonstrated by manifestly abusive imprisonment, and financial constraints through exorbitant fines that would make whole countries fall.

Arrested mercilessly and immediately placed in solitary confinement, almost without contact with his family, on 14 April 2013 upon his arrival at the New York airport, for a corruption case in Indonesia dating back to the early 2000s, his arrest intervened. one year almost to the day, before the announcement of GE's acquisition of Alstom on April 24, 2014. The most surprising is of course the speed with which negotiations on such a transaction took place, since according to Patrick Kron, the talks between Alstom and GE began March 23, 2014 and the sale was to be completed on June 23, 2014. In this transaction, General Electric, the US company, bought the energy branch of the French group for 12.35 billion euros; but because of the US legislation allowing companies that invest abroad to benefit from tax deductions, GE will therefore only pay 8.35 billion euros. Beyond the internal events that marked his relationship with the then CEO Patrick Kron, and the role of the latter in the realization of this acquisition, one is entitled to wonder about the purpose of the arrest of this manager, and especially on the "habitual" nature of these processes aimed at foreign groups, especially European ones, that allow American groups, to realize operations financially and strategically juicy. In his book cited above, written with the journalist Matthieu Aron, Frédéric Pierucci assures that "the Americans, lawsuits are well at the origin of the decomposition of Alstom". Convinced that he has nothing to reproach himself, especially since he had been whitened by an internal investigation of Alstom, the manager believes in a quick release. He reveals, that US justice was targeting the group's CEO. "What we want is to prosecute the general direction of Alstom including Matthew Kron," said the federal prosecutor of Connecticut David Novick soon after his arrest.

Frédéric Pierucci would not have been warned by his company, that the Department of Justice (DoJ) opened an investigation in 2009 on "the Indonesian case" and realized that Patrick Kron "wanted to play the smartest "," Making believe that the company was collaborating, while actually doing the opposite. " The same employee of Alstom will eventually plead guilty, which will lead internally to his dismissal. Beyond this history, important stakes are hidden behind this arrest- condemnation, not of a person, but of one of the French industrial jewels. To escape from US prosecutors, sell to General Electric all the energy and network activities that the US coveted for so many years, seemed to be the solution for the former CEO of Alstom, even if he denies today this thesis. Under the guise of fighting corruption, the US weakens some strategic companies to better position itself in global markets. It is an underground economic war that they deliver to French and European companies. The United States is also taking advantage of this extraterritorial jurisdiction to extend its sanctioning capacity to foreign companies, which would have had economic activities with countries unilaterally sanctioned by the US. Alcatel, Alstom, Technip, Total, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Areva ... All these French companies have found themselves, these last years, pursued by the US justice for cases of corruption or circumvention of embargoes. They have all been prosecuted on the basis of what is known as "extraterritoriality of US law". These are laws that allow for the prosecution of foreign companies abroad, provided they have an "even artificial" connection with the United States. This link is extremely broad, since it is sufficient for companies to make a dollar transaction or use US technology to be prosecuted. "Just use an electronic chip, an iPhone, a host or a US server to find yourself under the US law, says economist Hervé Juvin. It is a trap in which many companies have fallen. " Other French and European companies are likely to be worried by US justice. Indeed, we can first mention Airbus, which denounced itself to the US authorities, while the aircraft manufacturer is already under investigation for suspicion of corruption in France, by the Parquet national financier. the National Financial Office (PNF) ), but also in England.There is also the case of Areva. The company bought the Canadian company Uramin at a price that seems overvalued. At the end of 2016, a file was built with the FBI about this case.The operation would have been carried out in dollars, some partners during the transaction would be American, and finally, Uramin held a decisive general meeting ... in New-York.The criteria would be met for the US anti-corruption law to be activated.Lafarge could also be concerned. The French-Swiss cement maker is already sued by the French justice system. It’s suspected of having paid money to Daesh in Syria, to continue its business. Lafarge has asked an American firm, Baker MacKenzie, to produce an audit report.A French parliamentary report, registered at the Presidency of the National Assembly on October 5, 2016 , highlighted two points in particular with regard to the extraterritoriality of US laws:- Law as an instrument of economic power and foreign policy- The right put at the service of the objectives of the foreign policy and the economic interests of the United States and also in direct service of the interests of their firms. The committee heard several experts who confirmed these conclusions, which underline the political and economic decision that animates the judicial façade.This is how we see that to collect this information, all US services are mobilized. "It is a deliberate strategy of the United States to network their intelligence agencies and their justice to wage a real economic war against their competitors," said former LR MP Pierre Lellouche, who chaired parliamentary information on the subject. This economic war is dressed by the best intentions in the world. "The Senate did the same job and came to the same conclusions.

As a result, in recent years, nearly $ 40 billion in fines have been inflicted by the US justice system on European companies. In 1996, France nearly sold Thomson to Korean Daewoo for the symbolic amount of money as part of a privatization operation still for the same pretexts; this company was one of the leaders in electronics including military. The government has had to give it up in the face of political and media pressure, but above all a transaction to valorize Thomson's intangible capital. In fact, Thomson excelled in the field of patents, the know-how of its experts and engineers, its capacity for innovation, ... Since then, Thomson has become Thales, Beyond political cowardice in the face of national stakes, these US actions would not have been possible without the principle of extraterritoriality of the US justice that has so far cost French companies more than $ 13 billion. fines imposed by the US justice system. This racket, because that's what it is, is unheard of, in its scale, since GE has bought four companies under these conditions in ten years. The US court finally sentenced Alstom to a $ 772 million fine and denied GE to pay that money as agreed in the buyout agreements!Not only does the group lose one of its jewels, but it is punctured by nearly a billion dollars! There is only the mafia to do this type of operation, but it would have done it more discreetly ...In 1977, the Americans adopted an anti-corruption law, called the "FCPA" (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), following a huge bribe scandal at the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed. But they thought that their anticorruption law penalized them in the economic competition. "The former boss of the CIA, James Woolsey, once said:" we are tired of the bribes that the French pour in the contracts of armaments. We will clean that! " Except that Americans, will continue to pay commissions in off-shore companies ... ", says Pierre Lellouche."As the United States has become a hyperpower, they almost no

longer needed to use bribes, nuance journalist Jean-Michel Quatrepoint. They developed an influence strategy. A soft power. Corruption, with the "good old bribes", is the weapon of the weak. "This desire for economic power became a real strategic goal after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. "In 1993 US Secretary of State Warren Christopher called on Congress to use the same means to face economic competition, as the fight against the Soviets during the Cold War, says the specialist of economic intelligence Ali Laïdi. It's a new economic hot war. "The US anti-corruption law will therefore be extended to all companies (in 1998).A whole battery of laws is also put in place against the circumvention of embargoes or tax evasion. This is to counter the emergence of new powers like China, become the number one competitor, and secretly the No. 1 enemy of the US."The United States cannot contain China economically," said Christian Harbulot, director of the School of Economic Warfare. They therefore seek by all means to ensure that this power does not exceed them. As a result, US law allows, if necessary, to discard some troublesome competitors. "Americans can use the anti-corruption weapon, if they want to prevent a competitor from selling to Russians or Chinese, said Hervé Juvin. This is particularly the case of Alstom. In the eyes of the Americans, it was not necessary for Alstom to establish a partnership and a transfer of technology with the Chinese.

"Sources André Chamy Excerpt from the article published on February 4, 2019 on Voltairenet.org