2 October 2007Yahoo! NewsPascal Mallet
French oil giant Total on Tuesday faced a renewed Belgian probe into its alleged support of Myanmar's military regime as authorities reopened an investigation into the firm.
Belgium authorities are reopening a case brought by Myanmar refugees that Total was involved in crimes against humanity in their country, the refugees' lawyer said.
Four refugees accuse the company of having used forced labour provided by the military regime to build a gas pipeline, according to lawyer Alexis Deswaef.
Authorities are also to reopen an investigation into possible crimes against humanity targetting the regime, he said.
In a consortium with the Myanmar's national oil company and US group Unocal, now part of Chevron, Total built a pipeline in the 1990s to transport gas from fields in Myanmar to Thai power plants in neighbouring Thailand.
The four refugees accuse Total of having provided logistic and financial support in the 1990s to the military junta, which they hold responsable for forced labour, deportations murder, arbitrary executions and torture.
Total has also faced legal action in France against its labour practices in Myanmar, where it has operated since 1992.
But last year the group was cleared of charges in France that it relied on forced labour to build the 1.2-billion-dollar (848-billion-euro) gas pipeline after an out-of-court settlement with the alleged victims caused the prosecution's case to collapse.
Deswaef said that the refugees had "refused the fat compensation Total was ready to pay them as it already did with other victims in France and Myanmar in exchange for calling off their cases."
In Paris, Total declined to comment on the Belgian case other than by saying it had "taken note" that it had been reopened.
While the case is closed in France, it has continued to simmer in Belgium.
Belgium's constitutional court ruled in 2005 that the refugees' complaint, lodged in 2002, could be pursued, but last March another court ruled that the case should be dropped as the refugees were not Belgian.
But in a new ruling, the constitutional court said that a recognized refugee enjoys the same rights as a Belgian citizen and that a special Belgian law to rule on cases outside Belgium was applicable.
The Belgian justice ministry therefore ordered prosecutors to reopen the case.
The complaints target Total, its former chief Thierry Desmarest who was head of exploration and production at the time, as well as the company's former country director Herve Madeo.
The Myanmar military junta has been quelling protests over the past two weeks, killing at least 13 people and arresting hundreds. The recent unrest in the country has focused attention anew on foreign investments.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned on Tuesday that Total, France's biggest company, would not be exempt from new sanctions targeting Myanmar's ruling junta.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week urged French businesses including Total to freeze their investments in Myanmar, but stopped short of calling for a pullout.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Myanmar made systematic use of forced labour in the 1990s to build roads and military camps and little had been done to halt the practice.
