American Notes France

France loves a good summer scandal, and this year it has an intriguing one. When conservative Minister for Cooperation and Development Michel Aurillac came into office, he discovered some irregularities left behind by Christian Nucci, his Socialist predecessor and creator of Carrefour du Developpement, an organization designed to publicize Third World concerns. The state auditor has been unable to account for $1.4 million in the Carrefour budget. In addition, more than $6 million was spent by Nucci's agency on a two-day conference in Burundi in 1984.

Questions were also raised about Yves Chalier, the treasurer of Carrefour, who apparently authorized spending $600,000 to buy a 40-room chateau that he later had transferred to his own name.

Now that Minister Aurillac has started legal proceedings in the Carrefour affair, Chalier is nowhere to be found. The only sign of the missing treasurer is a letter claiming his innocence, which mysteriously appeared in Aurillac's mailbox.