World Notes FRANCE

French voters were savoring a U.S.-style scandal last week: allegations of secret arms sales to Iran, cover-ups and illegal use of misbegotten funds. According to a government report leaked to the daily Le Figaro, President Francois Mitterrand and former Defense Minister Charles Hernu, both Socialists, were aware of the arms shipments.

At the center of the fuss was a French government report alleging that a Bourges munitions firm, Luchaire, sold some 500,000 artillery shells worth $120 million to Tehran between 1983 and 1986. The alleged deal violated a government embargo against military aid to Iran. The report, written by the army controller-general, claims that Mitterrand and Hernu knew of the illicit sales as early as 1984 and did nothing to stop them. The report charges that Mitterrand's Socialist Party may have taken kickbacks worth about $500,000 to look the other way.