US embassy cable - 05PARIS2896

UNCLAS PARIS 002896 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL/C JOHN BRANDOLINO AND DAVID LUNA 
STATE ALSO PLS PASS TO USAID FOR JERRY O'BRIEN 
BRASILIA FOR ALESSANDRA LISBOA AND BARBARA RAMOS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ECON, PGOV, SOCI, KCRM, KFRD, PINR, PINS, PREL, FR 
SUBJECT:  FRANCE:  GOF DELEGATION TO FOURTH GLOBAL FORUM ON 
FIGHTING CORRUPTION, BRASILIA, BRAZIL, JUNE 7-10, 2005 
 
REF: STATE 63279 
 
1.  EconOff contacted Virginia Tonniatti, Counselor at the 
Brazilian Embassy in Paris, regarding the possibility of jointly 
meeting with GOF officials to encourage strong, Minister-led GOF 
participation in the Fourth Global Forum on Fighting Corruption. 
Tonniatti was familiar with the topic of the Global Forum, but 
needed guidance from Brasilia concerning our proposal (per 
reftel) for a joint demarche.  After seeking such guidance, 
Tonniatti said that Brasilia still had not responded more than a 
week later and she declined our offer to do a joint demarche. 
 
2.  We proceeded by contacting anti-corruption experts in three 
GOF ministries.  From the Interior Ministry, Pierre Soccoja said 
that he had just returned from a UN conference on organized 
crime in Bangkok and he would be attending the Global Forum as 
an expert speaker identified by the OECD.  An expert on public 
procurement, Soccoja will be speaking in Brasilia on the issues 
of risk identification and improving disclosure.  Soccoja could 
not say who might form the GOF delegation, but he did informally 
comment that the timing of the Global Forum was unfortunate. 
Soccoja noted that the June 7-10 timeframe comes just after an 
importation national referendum on the EU constitution, which 
may well result in a GOF reshuffle.  Soccoja thought it unlikely 
that any GOF Minister would commit to attending the Global Forum 
given the uncertain domestic realities facing the GOF after the 
May 29 vote. 
 
3.  Econoff also shared reftel talking points with anti- 
corruption official Regis Pelissier of the Finance Ministry.  An 
expert in financial transactions and fraud prevention, Pelissier 
did not offer any comments on the make-up of the GOF delegation 
to the Global Forum. 
 
4.  Poloff shared reftel demarche with Jean-Louis Bertrand, desk 
officer for corruption and organized crime in the MFA's Bureau 
of Strategic, Security and Disarmament Affairs.  Bertrand agreed 
that a high-level presence would be useful, but did not know who 
would lead the GOF delegation.  He said he would convey our 
points to Ambassador-at-Large for Anti-Corruption and Organized 
Crime Jean-Pierre Vidon. 
 
WOLFF