French billionaire Vincent Bolloré has been ordered to stand trial in Paris to face charges that he bribed a foreign public official in Togo among other allegations, in a long-running case tied to the Bolloré Group’s business activities in West Africa, Le Monde reported.

Investigating judges on Thursday also ordered two former executives to stand trial: Gilles Alix, then-director general of the Bolloré Group, on charges of bribery of a foreign public official and breach of trust, and Jean-Philippe Dorent, the former international director at Euro RSCG, now Havas, for complicity in breach of trust, according to the newspaper. 

Prosecutors suspect the Bolloré Group provided cut-rate consulting services to the 2010 presidential campaigns of Faure Gnassingbé in Togo and Alpha Condé in Guinea, who later won office, in exchange for business advantages tied to port management, Le Monde reported.

Investigating judges said evidence showed Bolloré and Alix decided together to cover campaign costs for both candidates, with services provided by Euro RSCG, coordinated by Dorent and paid for by a Bolloré Group entity, Le Monde reported. Euro RSCG billed most of the costs not to the candidates but to another subsidiary, SDV Afrique, prosecutors said. 

A Bolloré subsidiary is suspected of covering €300,000, excluding taxes, in communications services between November 2009 and March 2010 for Gnassingbé’s presidential campaign, Le Monde reported. The newspaper said investigators also pointed to the hiring of Gnassingbé’s half-brother at SDV Togo seven months after the election.

At the same time, between September 2009 and May 2010, the Bolloré Group obtained for two subsidiaries extensions of concession terms, significant tax benefits and construction of a 37th quay at the Port of Lomé, Le Monde reported. The judges said those findings established what they described as the existence of a corruption pact, according to the newspaper.

The trial is scheduled for Dec. 7-17. 

Read more at the Le Monde