Minister denies book accusations
‘My actions were legal, legitimate, transparent and moral’ says Kouchner over conflict of interest charges.
FOREIGN Minister Bernard Kouchner has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in carrying out consulting work in Africa.
The minister defended himself in the National Assembly and in national media yesterday after he was vilified in a new book by investigative journalist Pierre Péan, Le Monde Selon K.
The book contained accusations of a conflict of interest in 2002 – 2007 between Kouchner’s role in charge of a state-funded body working for international hospital cooperation and subsequently as Prime Minister François Fillon’s foreign minister, and consulting work he did for Gabon and Congo.
Kouchner said the book was a slur against him and he would probably take legal action.
Kouchner, who is a doctor and was health minister under several Socialist governments, admitted consulting work, but said it was above board.
He told Le Nouvel Observateur: “I was one of the consultants for a French firm, in an area that I know well – that is to say medicine and public health.
“Is there something shocking that a former health minister – who did humanitarian work for decades for Médecins Sans Frontières (which he co-founded), which let me remind you won the Nobel Peace Prize, Médecins du Monde and many other organisations, without asking for a centime, should write some reports to help African countries improve their health systems?
“I always worked legally and transparently and paid my taxes.”
In the National Assembly he said: “At no time, not in Gabon or anywhere else, did I make use of my ministerial position… My actions in public health were legal, legitimate, transparent and moral.”
They included three year’s work for Gabon, he said. “I worked on a fine project to create a health insurance system in a country where half the citizens are destitute and had no access to healthcare. Is that immoral, unworthy or dishonourable?” he added.
He was applauded by the MPs of the right and by three Socialists.
Kouchner was expelled from the Socialist Party after he agreed to become Foreign Minister for the UMP government.
Photo: World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org) / swiss-image.ch
