AUGUST 26, 2001
A scandal that refuses to die
Elf Minol turned up as a sponsor in Formula 1 the following year with the Benetton team although there has never been any suggestion that there was any wrongdoing involved in that deal.
Ironically, the same judges who are now investigating the Elf scandal were those who arrested Ligier boss Cyril de Rouvre at the end of 1993. This led to Ligier being acquired by Flavio Briatore, the boss of Benetton, so that he could get his hands on Renault engines for the 1995 season. Briatore later sold the team to Alain Prost.
Elf has since been sold to the public and merged into the TotalFinaElf group.