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A constant feature appears in the episodic relationship between France and Burma for over a century: those who promoted a French presence in this country have always been a handful of wheeler-dealers seeking short-term profits. […] The fall of Mandalay in November 1885 and subsequent integration of upper Burma into British India owed much to France, and particularly to the rakish and unscrupulous business practices of Bonvilain, a French engineer – role equivalent to our present head of cooperation mission – at King Thibaw's service. […]
On November 29 1885 Mandalay fell. King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat were exiled. The French community was requested to leave the country, leaving behind mines, teak, banking […]
Towards the end of the 20th century the part played by a network of unscrupulous French businessmen, well-connected with influential generals holding power in Rangoon, is reminiscent of Bonvilain's failed attempts. […] While goods of prime importance then had been teak and gems, now, under Mitterrand and Chirac, they are hydrocarbons and opium, with its derivative heroin. […] This is not to say that the French connection is directly involved in refining or exporting Burmese heroin, but rather that they are practising their skills at a new industry: drug-money laundering.
In 1989 a French businessman took up residence in Rangoon. Thanks to a favour to him by the old dictator, Ne Win, he is the only foreigner with a Burmese passport: Mr Pichon has been in the good books of the junta's highest levels since services rendered during his previous activities as military attache to the French embassy in Bangkok.
Pichon is a member of the international network of unscrupulous businessmen that Pierre Falcone set up then, including in particular former members of secret services. Pichon was on the pay-roll of one of Falcone's companies, Setraco, which opened a branch in the Burmese capital. At the same time Pichon set up a consultancy company together with former heads of the Burmese military intelligence.
These structures played a key-role between 1989 and 1992 in obtaining for Total the Yadana contract, at 1.2 billion US$ the biggest investment ever made in Burma.
To keep their warm connections with the Burmese generals the French network had to help them by facilitating the financing of weapon purchases. Backed by the official payment of "bonus fees" – 15 million US $ by Total to the MOGE (Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise) - the Falcone network set up a drug-money laundering circuit. This permitted, among other purchases, the acquisition of 24 helicopters from Poland.
In 1996, with a mind to broaden the base of the drug-money laundering mechanism, the Falcone network, supported by the French diplomatic structure, contributed to the design and launch of the "1996 visit Myanmar year". […] This Burmese year reached its peak at a world tourism summit in Paris attended by a Burmese general minister, when a prize named "Gulliver d' Or", or "golden Gulliver" was given to a tour operator connected with the Falcone network, for its touring circuit around Burma. […]
At the highest level of the French republic the Falcone network managed to get approval for its interests. President Chirac twice publicly expressed support for the Burmese regime. Once at the Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok in 1996, and again in an interview to the Far Eastern Economic Review in April 1997. In contradiction with European decisions and opposing all democracies, Mr Chirac declared that he favoured the immediate and unconditional admission of the Burmese narco-regime into ASEAN. […]