Jean-Christophe Mitterrand
Jean-Christophe Mitterrand is the son of former French president François Mitterrand. He was an advisor to his father on African affairs from 1986 to 1992, and earned the nickname Papamadit in Africa.
Mitterrand was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine. He was a press correspondent for the Agence France Presse in 1975 in Mauritania. In 1986, he became his father's advisor on African affairs. In this capacity, he was responsible for maintaining relations with African strongmen to maintain French influence in Africa; for instance, Jean-Christophe Mitterrand became a personal friend of Togolese dictator Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
Angolagate
In the 1990s, Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, along with Russian businessman Arcadi Gaydamak, was implicated in the Angolagate arms dealing scandal. He was indicted in 1993 by the French justice in this case, suspected of having used his influence to help Pierre Falcone sell Russian weapons to José Eduardo dos Santos's government (Angola). On 22 December 2000, he was imprisoned in the Santé prison in Paris, on orders of the magistrate Philippe Courroye, on charges of "complicity of arms traffic, trafic d'influence (influence peddling) and trafic d'influence aggravé (aggravated influence peddling)." He was suspected of having received important sums of money in 1993 and 1994 for his role as an intermediary in this contract, and has recognized having received US$1.8 million (13 million Francs) from the Brenco on a Swiss bank account—although he denied any participation to an arms deal.
