A FINE FRENCH SCANDAL OVER A MISSING MOROCCAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 1999
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: February 4, 1966
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

. Approv
600
 2
Approved For Release 2001/07/26 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360014-0
rom king to cop they were a In-
olved in what might blow up into
he biggest, juiciest political scan-
al to hit France since the Dreyfus
affair. Last October a Moroccan
eftist leader named Mehdi ben
Barka, twice sentenced to death in
bsenria for plotting to overthrow
King Hassan II, was kidnaped in
broad daylight in Paris' Latin
Quarter. It turned out that the ab-
duction had been carried out by
French agents, presumably acting
under the orders of Morocco's
General Mohammed Oufkir and
with the knowledge of French offi-
ials. The reverberations rocked
ven Charles de Gaulle. Furious
at the first taint of real scandal on
his government since he set up the
Fifth Republic, he sacked his coun-
terespionage chief, ordered a re-
organization of all French police
and security agencies and issued an
"international warrant" for the ar-
rest of Oufkir and two aides whom
the French charge with having
rganized the plot. King Hassan,
urious himself, refused to do any
hing about Oufkir and instead
anceled a state visit to France.
eanwhile a titillated Paris, trying
o figure ? out who did what to
hom and why, was certain of only'
ne thing: Ben Barka, still miss-
[mg,
Continued
FEB 4 1966
Approved For Release 2001/07/26 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360014-0
 SCRATCH ONE WITNESS. An un- find him-though one day he was
derworld character named Georges photographed parading past their
Figon (above) claimed he saw Oufkir, headquarters (top). Finally they lo-
torture Ben Barka, then leave him to cated him at his home. But when they
die. French police said they_tried to ar , .. went to arrest him he killed himself
rest Figon for months but couldn't -they said. Then they watched as
Ap prnvarl Fnr PcIaaca'9r g9ft/I% M*O? fHrN1QPnnn1nniRnnid_n
FES 4 1966 Continued
 Approved For Release 2001/07/26 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360014-0
fe-Z . t mnuemnts, dauhNe Edurnot
begUe a C. ca 9
CpYRGeG~~cbaaoaos' ion-am broumhal (DWROVS.
In French, which is a very pre-
cise language, the kidnaping of:
Ben Barka was for months called
only lure affaire-intriguing, to be
sure, and full of possibilities but
still not quite ripe and smelly:
enough to be taken too serious-
ly. But the death of Georges Figon
(opposite page), who set up the
kidnaping, blew off the lid, reveal-,
ing a steamy bouillabaisse con
cocted of police officers, govern-
ment spies, underworld thugs, ad
venturers, gangster flesh peddlers
and maybe even an Interior Min-
ister. Then I'a/14ire became un vral
seandale, a full-blown scandal.
A more varied and.raffish cast
of characters had not been assem-
bled since Irma La Douce. Georges
Figon was an ex-con who once.
spent three years in a mental in
stitution, feigning insanity to avoid
;ping to prison. A decade later he:
necame a Left Bank literary type..,
He appeared on French TV as the
"unrepentant bad guy," wrote un-
derworld dialogue for gangster
movies and once even did an ar-
ticle for Jean-Paul Sartre's very
intellectual monthly. I
Four of Figon's gangster friends
were brought into the Ben Barka;
caper, including a brothel own-1
er named Georges Boucheseiche..'tion of France. And all of than, rnnnfnrin+oll: ,e., ~A? a v_
....., ~...,,..1..u Ljj~jj tjuuL; [t Lnc naa ,been recruited as barbouzes, the Moroccans. And he had the
feet of a man named "Pierrot le! (false beards), or undercover reputation of being able to supply
Fou" (Peter the Madman), who;'agents, by the Gaullists during the the Moroccan embassy in Paris
was France's Public Enemy No. Algerian war to fight the anti-De with anything vegetable, miner
One in the early postwar years. Gaulle Secret Army Organization al or animal, of any sex.
Pierrot won the admiration of on its own terrorist terms. In 1963
angsters and cops alike for theFigon's men reportedly had han- ``
heroic, legendary devastation died the kidnaping in Munich of The trap that lured Ben Barka
wrought on French banks by his an exiled right-wing French Army to his Latin Quarter rendezvous
outfit, called the "Gang des Trac- colonel the Gaullists preferred not was set up largely by Figon, who,'
tions Avants" (the Front-Wheel- to have around loose. posing as a financial angel, had
Drive Gang) because they always; The fingerman in the Ben Barka managed to get Ben Barka to be-
made their getaways in front- plot-the go-between for Moroc- lieve he would put up money for a
wheel-drive Citroens. co 's General film on'the
Figon and his friends were not Oufkirand his French problems of decoloni-
hired hands-was Antoine Lopez.!zation that the Moroccan wanted
wholly unfamiliar with the theory Ostensibly an employe of Air,toproduce.Ben Barka wasen route
and practice of kidnaping. Three France, he was reall a double: to lunch with Figon to discuss the
of themA-? 9gerdPrRPe:~rt~c~7dtt~ ~t~,2A~loAt~o~s~-@1sQppea red
stapo du g e man occuna- . As
THE VICTIM. Ben Barka was a vigo-
rous political leader in Morocco who
went into exile in 1960 when Hassan
cracked down on leftists. Recently
a 4 1966 Continued
 CPYRGHT 5
Approved For Release 2001/07/26 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360014-0
Lopez, the go-between
Jacquier (left), chief counterspy
I vice squad. They were old pals of
two French policemen named Sou-
chon and Voitot, members of the
r
p
F, was sprung-not by Figon but by
he got out of the taxi the t
Boucheseiche, brothel owner
Lopez, the go-between. He had
helped them in the past by finger-
ing drug peddlers and other un-
,javory types, and they were anx-
ious to do a favor for an old pal.
But Souchon was a little worried
about helping unless he was po-
litically covered upstairs. Lopez
reportedly assured him: not only,
he said, was Jacques Fuccart, De
Gaulle's personal deputy on police
and intelligence matters, "au par-
fum" (in the perfume, or in on it)
'but also Souchon would get a call
on an official line from the Min-
istry of Interior. Sure enough, the
morning of the kidnaping Sou
ehon got the call.
You have a rendezvous to-
day?" asked the caller.
"Yes," replied Souchon.
"Are you going?"
"Yes."
Continued
/26 CIA-RbP75`-00149R000100360014-0
Appro\aW/jjgd'r Pj" fQt jk~
 "That's good," said the. voice. Oufkir had said: "1 know there arc
ch
h was as now on o rem goVctl ome amon you who talk a lot.
Approved For F~916RVIIVO 29c. I, 7c~i IAPP4Pi1AflU6A,1"l-
usiness that he and Voitot picked ing meaningfully at Figon, the gen-
e p Ben Barka in an official police eral added: "The slightest mistake
c r and flashed their tricolored like that would be fatal."
olice identifications when Ben It was. For 59 days the police,
arka asked who they were. The armed with a warrant, tried to find
atch went off without a hitch. Figon-at least, that's what they
he two policemen drove Ben Bar- said. Somehow they never seemed
a to the villa of the brothel own- able to-although everyone else
r Boucheseiche just outside Paris, did. One paper wrote that "Figon
ropped him off and left. was seen so much around Paris
Within a week, the story of the that it was easier to meet him than
idnaping had broken and word avoid him." Finally one night the
as all over town of the French po- police-supported by roadblocks,
ice's complicity in it. Lopez had crackling police radios and the
eported his role to his counter- press-moved in on Figon's apart-
Major Marcel ment. The concierge was watching
ence contact
telli
,
g
n
CPYRGHT troy, alias Finville, alias Donald, The Untouchables on TV. The po-
who had in turn reported it to his lice said, "We would like to see a
uperior, General Paul Jacquier, Monsieur Le Normand (Figon's
irector of French counterespion- alias). When the police raced up
ge. Souchon, too, had made a the stairs to question "M. Le Nor-
lean breast of it to his superior, mand," they found him dead, with
who in turn passed the word to the a bullet through the temple. Sui-
Paris Prefect of Police, who in turn cide, the police said immediately.
personally reported it to Interior But the official coroner's report
Minister Roger Frey. Indeed, the never mentioned the word suicide,
only police official whom nobody did not fix the exact time of death
seemed to have informed was the and said the bullet was not fired
Chief of the Criminal Brigade, who point-blank but "from a very short
had been charged with investigat- distance"-a rather odd procedure
ing Bcn Barka's disappearance. In for a suicide.
France, which has a bewildering What the next act in this scenario
array of police networks, that is will be no one can predict. Go-
perhaps not strange. between Lopez, who said, "I was
just doing my duty as a French-
man," is in jail. So are the two
lhe kidnaping had taken place cops, Voitot and Souchon. Bou-
only a few days before De Gaulle cheseiche and his pals, paid off,
announced he was a candidate for have fled to safer clines. Jacquier,
re-election as president. Naturally, the counterespionage chief, has
the government did not want l'af- been fired, and Finville, his agent,
faire Ben Barka to become le scan- suspended. Opposition parties are
dale Ben Barka at that point. De now demanding that Interior Min-
Gaulle wrote a letter to Ben Bar- ister Frey and De Gaulle's aide,
ka's widow in Morocco promising Foccart, be dismissed.
the investigation would be pur- In France, scandal has a way
sued "with the greatest vigor and of winding up swept under the
the greatest dispatch." The gov- lapis. Several Gaullist weeklies, for
ernment denied categorically that example, have already pointed the
any French police agency had tak- way to a political diversion. One
en part in the kidnaping. And a headlined in big black type: "How
dedicated young magistrate, Louis iiiMtC], Got Diddled." By whom?
Zollinger, was given the job of in- -who else?
vestigatingthe case. His investigat- e'f-me `etillg
ing of police and government wit- a very angry De Gaulle was re-
nesses went along at a snail's pace. ported to have said: "There are
Then, two months later, Figon some smart alecks in this affair
started to "sing" in public,?almost who take me for a sucker (11 y ades
FEB 4 1966 to anyone who would listen. This -igotos darts celte affaire qui me
was daring, since in an article pub- prennent pour une Mlle). The ac-
lithe in a French weekly, under counts will be settled."
the title "I Saw Ben Barka Killed,
Figon claimed that at a last brief-
ing given the conspirators General
Approved For