SCANDAL SEEN IN DEATH OF BEN BARKA CASE FIGURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100360067-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 1999
• Sequence Number: 67
• Publication Date: January 19, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For, Release A P/P7O66:IA-RDP75-0079800
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W ASHTNGTON POST
AND TIMES HERALD
By Waverley Root
Weshlntton Poet stiff writer
sterday of Georges Figon,
key figure in the Oct. 29
sappearance of Moroccan op-
sition leader Mehdi Ben
I arka, threatened today to
ttrn the case Into the biggest
rench scandal since the
tavisky affair of 1934.
Serge Stavisky was a colos-
sal French swindler who in.
olved many highly placed
ersons in his , affairs. The
uthorities were apparently
fraid to bring him to trial.
e was found dead in a moun
ain chalet when the police
Inally got to him, ? and man
eople doubted it was suicide,
Stavisky's lawyer was
doted today as' having said i
as "suicide by persuasion,'
nd that he . hoped Figon'
Bath was not the same.
The 1934 affair caused th
firing of the prefect of police
he storming of the Chambe
if Deputies by protestin
ightist organizations, and th
uhsequent overthrow of th
government.
Figon, an ex-convict, h a
ammed Oufkir shortly after'
en Barka's abduction by two
olicemcn.
Bath Called Suicide
Last nigbt.Figon was 'found
lead. Police said they heard a
hot as they were about to en-
er the apartment where he
as hiding, and the authorities
ailed it,suicide.?
The parallel with the Sta-
isky case is strengthened by
Figon's having been In contact
with press and friends despite
the police's "inability" to'find
him; by the involvement -of
high officials; and by the gov-
ernment's stake In the case,
which has strained French-Mo-
roccan relations.
Government' sources report-
ed today-that French counter'
intelligence chief Marcel Le-
are
w .\er
'reptlrts; 'confessions an rev
elations' only ' 48 hours, ago,
really commit 'suicide?" iii
Another newspaper, Cbm=
bat, in that 'igon "hadl
been telling those who ' met
him .'.'. that there had -been{
recent attempt's to kill' him-oo" ._
The rightist Aurore head}
lined the story, "He killed hint
self, police say,' .with the last
three words in italics.
But prosecutor Georges Cha?
vanon said he Is convinced Fll,
gon's,death was a suicide. It
so, it. puts the police- on',thli
spot.
Shown in Pictures
A warrant for Figon's arrest
GEORGES, FIGON.
death'mi y rock Frande
roy had been suspended. He by members of the French' Be-?
admitted Saturday that one of cret services and police.
the men charged in connec- 'Suicide' Is Doubted
tion with the Ben Barka kid-
napping had been a French The, French press today
secret agent for eight- years, treats 1t'igon's "suicide!! '*11h
Louis Souchon, one of the restirvations..
policemen who helped abduct "The -:news' - raises many
Gets',Barka,' testified in court questions,''' the . conservative
Saturday that the plot to kid- newspaper Figaro said. -'-'The
nap Ben-:parka and hand him first question: obviouslY is, did
-was still
t tti M cad ill.. Georges 'Figbdi who
c
r
told newsmen,that he saw, Be
Barka slashed to, death b y' M
aa>l Y~+t~d~'' ~:?4>4,ttkr;. .
Appro. ed For' Ire" e' 00'~i7 ~ : ` I -' RD~75 p0 4
p
1 Qv x,, o,.; a o
'
on
, p t' I sadquarters: with three pi
!t i ,~3tRe 4~d1~' 1 + ~a v~~P o.; odingu '~i;~00 .1 a h' ! ,ri. t - -.... ? . _ .. ? _
had been issued two months
ago. While the-police seemed,
unable to find him, journalists
interviewed h i'm; acquain?
tances reported seeing him in
his usual ' haunts, and the,
weekly magazine Match came,
out today, after Figon's death',
with pictures of his recent
"strolls In Paris." One showed
him on a street-corner, with i,,
uniformed policeman a. few,
feet -dwrty,, In another,' he .is1
charge of 'the Ben Barka ease,'
it was learned,-will not have fi
chance to study the, document*,
Police Are said to have seized;
1n' Figon's apartment ' last
night Instead,' the ' l1i estiga,
tion of, Figon'A death ~as been
assigned to `another official-C
one"lvhohad handled the eas`
entrtd pH oh' fer!~gi*-3eJr's: io?