French former oil giant's bosses facing jail

Former senior executives of French oil giant Elf were jailed today for pillaging public funds from the company.

Former Elf chairman Loik Le Floch-Prigent, aged 60, and a former Elf director, Alfred Sirven, aged 76, were jailed for five years by a Paris court.

A third company official, Andre Tarallo, was sentenced to four years.

Le Floch-Prigent and Sirven are both already serving time after losing appeals earlier this year against separate convictions over corruption at Elf, since absorbed into the Franco-Belgian oil company Total.