Ex-French minister awaits verdict

Dumas faces up to five years in prison if found guilty

PARIS, France -- The corruption trial of former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas is set to end on Wednesday.

A three-judge panel is expected to deliver their verdict on Dumas and six other defendants in a trial which has centred around evidence from his former mistress and the appearance of a former fugitive.

Dumas has been on trial for allegedly receiving illegal funds from the state-owned oil company, Elf Aquitaine, between 1989 and 1992 while he was foreign minister.

If found guilty he could face up to five years in jail.

The funds, worth $6.4 million, were allegedly paid to his ex-mistress and fellow defendant Christine Deviers-Joncour through a slush fund.

Prosecutors say Dumas secured Deviers-Joncour a phony job at Elf to create a direct link between the foreign ministry and the oil company so he could benefit from gifts lavished on her.

Dumas has denied knowing that the gifts were aimed at winning his support for the sale of six French frigates to Taiwan's navy.

Among others waiting for a verdict are former Elf President Loik Le Floch-Prigent, and Alfred Sirven, who was Elf's second-in-command.

Sirven was captured in February in the Philippines, where he had been in hiding for nearly four years.

Elf Aquitaine was taken over last year by the French-Belgian group TotalFina.