Rhodia target of probe into accounts when minister was on board: source

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2005

PARIS (AFP) — The French specialty chemicals group Rhodia is under investigation for accounting faults which allegedly took place while French Finance Minister Thierry Breton was a member of the board, a judicial source said.

The finance ministry said that Breton, who was travelling to Japan, was untroubled by the probe because he had "put in place rules of governance" at Rhodia and "in particular an audit committee".

A ministry spokesman told AFP: "We are untroubled about this". Breton is accompanying French President Jacques Chirac on an official visit to Japan.

Rhodia told AFP that an investigation against unnamed parties had been opened in October 2004 following two complaints which did not name any particular person.

"This is a normal step in...