The former head of French oil giant Elf, Loik Le Floch-Prigent, appeared in a Togolese court Monday after being extradited in a fraud probe, a move condemned by his lawyer.The former Elf CEO was arrested in Ivory Coasts economic capital Abidjan on Friday night as he tried to board an Air France flight to Paris, an Ivorian security source said.He was transferred to Togo the next day, under an international arrest warrant, and is due to appear in court in the Togolese capital Lome on Monday.Le Floch-Prigents lawyer Patrick Klugman denounced the swift international transfer.The forms of extradition as we currently know them were not respected, Klugman said. He earlier condemned the transfer as a kidnapping but later backtracked from the remark.An Ivorian prosecutor however said the transfer was an operation between two police forces in line with international police organisation Interpol rules.Le Floch-Prigents lawyer in Togo told AFP he was able to visit him on Sunday night at the police station in Lome, where he was being held in an office.He said he had not been subjected to abusive treatment while being detained, but he repeated earlier concerns raised by Klugman, saying his health was fragile and he is due to have an operation, without providing further details.He will be presented to a judge this morning, but we do not know what time he will be there, Rustico Lawson-Bankou said.He was expected to be questioned by a judge in a procedure that would be closed to the public, in line with Togolese judicial procedures.The investigation involves a complaint from an Emirati businessman who alleges he was the victim of a $48-million (37-million-euro) fraud.The businessman, Abbas Al Yousef, claims Le Floch-Prigent was acting as his personal adviser during the alleged fraud.Togos former minister of territorial administration, Pascal Bodjona, has been charged over the allegations as well as Togolese businessman Bertin Sow Agba. AFP
