Elf Trial Hit By Lawyer's Revelations

France's Elf corruption trial was disrupted for several hours yesterday as defence lawyers demanded that the investigating magistrate mainly responsible for bringing the case to court be reprimanded for publishing a revealing book about it. Eva Joly, who retired last year after becoming France's best-known anti-corruption judge, has written about the surveillance, mysterious break-ins and death threats to which she was subjected during her eight-year Elf investigation.

Thirty-seven people are on trial in Paris in connection with claims that about 2bn francs was siphoned from the accounts of the then state-owned oil giant Elf during the 1980s and early 1990s. The money was allegedly paid out in illegal sweeteners and used to fund a variety of political parties.

Despite claims by defence lawyers that the book cast unfair aspersions on their clients' characters and could influence the jury, the presiding judge, Michel Desplan, rejected demands for an adjournment and questioning of Ms Joly. "The court has Ms Joly's judicial work before it," he said. "That is what it is here to judge, and nothing else."