The head of oil group Total SA, France's biggest listed company, is being questioned by police in a probe into alleged corruption in Iran, a spokesman for the company said on Wednesday.
Christophe de Margerie, who became chief executive at Total last month, has been under investigation for several months by French judges probing corruption allegations linked to the Iraqi oil-for-food program and a gas project in Iran.
The Total spokesman said questioning of de Margerie -- and two other employees which the group declined to name -- related to a probe opened in December 2006 into the South Pars natural gas project in Iran.
"Total is confident in the fact that (the) investigation will establish the absence of any illegal activities and hopes that it will be conducted with serenity," Total said in a statement, renewing its "full support" for the three.
The Paris prosecutors' office opened an investigation into the contract, signed in 1997, following the discovery of 95 million Swiss francs ($78.32 million) in the Swiss bank accounts of an intermediary, a judicial source said in December.
De Margerie headed Total's Middle East operations from 1995 to 1999, and then oversaw the group's global exploration and production activities. He succeeded Thierry Desmarest as chief executive last month.
Last October, he was put under formal investigation by a French judge over oil purchases made under the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq, after being held in custody for 48 hours and then released.
(Reuters, 21/03/2007)