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PARIS (AP) - The new CEO of French oil giant Total SA was being held for questioning Wednesday in an investigation into the group's activities in Iran, the latest legal challenge for the company and its embattled chief.
Christophe de Margerie has already been targeted in a French probe over the scandal-ridden oil-for-food program in Iraq. He took over the helm in February of a company facing sinking profits amid lower hydrocarbon output, oil prices down from their record highs and rising exploration costs.
In the latest case, French financial police are investigating whether Total paid bribes to win a contract to develop the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf in 1997, among other allegations of wrongdoing, according to judicial officials who spoke on condition they not be identified by name because of laws requiring that details of investigations be kept secret.
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