Mitterrand son held in money-launder probe

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Judicial sources say Jean-Christophe Mitterrand has been arrested by officers of France's financial brigade as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of corruption and money laundering.

The allegations revolve around the Sofremi Company, which deals with weapons sales largely to Africa, and is affiliated with the French Interior Ministry.

Mitterrand, the son of Francois Mitterrand, who was French president from 1981 to 1995 and who died in 1996, worked as a counselor in the Elysee Palace's African Bureau while his father was president.

The investigation is, according to reports in the authoritative newspaper Le Monde, focusing on suspected illegal trading, money-laundering and corruption between 1993 and 1997, involving Sofremi and the Brenco Arms Company, senior officials of both companies have already been arrested.

Police searched the house of Jean-Christophe Mitterrand earlier this month.

French media reports claim Mitterrand was paid 500,000 francs (currently $65,000) for helping Brenco trade in Angola, which had been blacklisted by a French inter-governmental commission on international arms sales.

French Administration

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