Bribery, corruption, unscrupulous politicians, greedy business people, amoral presidents, marital secrets and a bottomless pit of money this heady combination was all in a day's work at France's oil giant Elf in the 1990s.

Unfortunately Elf's skullduggery, which was sanctioned and supported by the state, was not confined to France.

In Africa, blood was spilled, governance was thwarted and whole economies held hostage to this "system of opportunism protected by the millions and millions of barrels produced by Elf", as a French court put it recently.

The biggest trial in French postwar history wound down last week as 37 defendants were sentenced for crimes related to Elf's activities in the 1990s.

The three top three executives of the former Elf which is now part of multinational oil company TotalFinaElf after being privatised received jail terms and hefty fines.

Those on trial formed part of a large network of bribery and corruption run by Elf together with successive French governments in Africa, South America, Russia, Spain and Germany.

The court heard that Elf was a company in which secrecy was systematised and where corruption was no longer an offence.

The company formalised a system that had been in place since the time of Gen de Gaulle (who created Elf in 1965).

This system was one of international clientilism and corruption which became the key to lasting relations between France and its former colonies in Africa, a bond still strong to this day.

Elf's role in Africa was not only about oil; it was also a covert tool for maintaining France's influence in Africa generally but notably in Gabon, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Angola. It even supported the secession of Biafra in Nigeria because most of the oil reserves were there.

Interestingly, the ties between France and Elf's "clients" in Africa were also sustained through the Freemason movement. It lent itself to secrecy and also linked networks of important people.

Two of France's key point men Gabon's President Omar Bongo and Congo's Denis Sassou-Nguesso are known to be important freemasons.

Bongo has proved to be good value for money: not only has he managed to stay in power for 35 years, he is also the father-in-law of Sassou-Nguesso, who controls another of France's former pet projects Republic of Congo.

Bongo has heatedly denied receiving money from Elf. He has even written a book to declare his innocence. However, Elf's "Mr Africa", Andre Tarallo, told the trial he had opened several personal Swiss bank accounts for Bongo, into which commissions on oil deals were paid.

Tarallo's lawyers have argued that the property in Corsica and Paris that he is alleged to have misappropriated, is in fact being held in trust for Bongo.

Elf's involvement in Congo was a little more sinister. In the brutal civil war of 1997, it initially armed both sides incumbent president Pascal Lissouba and Sassou-Nguesso, who, after losing to Lissouba in an election, wanted to seize power by force.

Elf eventually came down on the side of Sassou-Nguesso after Lissouba attempted to liberalise the oil industry, breaking France's monopoly. Elf's helicopters were seen strafing a village in the war that eventually unseated Lissouba and allowed Sassou-Nguesso to grab power.

France, and in turn Elf, also tried to play both sides in Angola, giving money to the Unita rebel movement until it seemed Jonas Savimbi had no chance of winning the war, and then changing sides to support President José Dos Santos, who controlled the petroleum industry.

According to testimony, the payoffs for prominent politicians in Africa went through third parties, ending up in a network of Swiss bank accounts held in names of people designated by the heads of state in question. The French government did not want a trail to be left that would lead it to be fingered for bribery.

Former Elf CE Loik le FlochPrigent even paid a à 5m bribe to his wife on their divorce to ensure she did not speak of their frequent visits to Africa and the activities she witnessed.

Not only do the men from Elf, and by extension successive French governments, have blood on their hands, they have contributed in no small measure to the dysfunctionality of states that have yet to recover properly from those heady days of unlimited and unchecked corruption.

Africa has paid dearly for the moral vacuum in France during the 1990s.

Games is director of Africa@ Work.

With acknowledgements to Games and the Business Day.