It appears that during the ramp-up to the Iraq war and immediately following, numerous articles appeared linking the ultimate owner of Shock magazine -- Lagardere SCA -- to the former Iraqi regime.
None of this would matter, of course, if not for the publisher's very bad taste and even worse judgement. But for entertainment purposes, here's a summary of a few of the dozens of articles that come up in Nexis when you type "Lagardere and Hussein" in the search box and click the search button.
Sun-Sentinal (April 13, 2003)
There is considerable evidence that France's actions are motivated by financial considerations. They have been arming Saddam and sold him equipment to build nuclear weapons. Some of the missiles used against American tanks were French-built. Chirac has called Saddam "his good friend." Saddam has invested in French companies. One example: he owns about 10 percent of Lagardere SCA, the publisher of Elle, Car & Driver and Women's Day magazines. Therefore, every time an American has bought those magazines, some of the profits have gone into Saddam's pocket.
From The Australian (April 14, 2003):
US officials estimate he channelled between pound stg. 4billion and pound stg. 7billion into accounts around the world. The US has frozen pound stg. 1.1billion in Iraqi assets, and the Bank of England has seized a further pound stg. 400million.
Hussein also invested in French companies, including defence and media group Lagardere. His stake, once worth more than pound stg. 50million, has been frozen since 1990.
Oh, and this entertaining doozie from the Financial Times ca. 1991:
HACHETTE, the French publishing and broadcasting group, yesterday froze a FFr380m (Pounds 37.6m) block of its shares owned by a company with Iraqi links.
The move was an attempt to 'cut short certain excessive, unjust, unproven and often unfounded commentaries which might mislead public opinion and hurt our international image', it said....Hachette, controlled by Mr Jean-Luc Lagardere, said it was 'astonished' at being virtually the only company named by the Kroll detective agency of New York as a repository for Iraqi investments, when the agency claimed to have identified billions of dollars of funds salted away by Iraq. Kroll is investigating Iraq's hidden funds for the Kuwaiti government.
The freeze means Hachette will impede dealing in the shares held by Montana and will not pay dividends. The company said it was undertaking to buy in the frozen shares as soon as a procedure allowing it was established.
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