New revelations into the dealings of the giant Elf Aquitaine oil firm show the degree of corruption that pervaded the transactions of the former French state enterprise.

Last week, Renaud van Ruymbeke, the Paris prosecutor, accused Andre Tarallo, Elf's former Africa manager, of corruption in nine cases, all related to the management of the company's transactions in several West African countries as well as in Spain and Germany.

The charges include illegal financing of French political parties, and managing illegal bank accounts in Liechtenstein and Switzerland on behalf of African dictators, as well as in helping them invest the money in France and other European countries.

Tarallo, 74, is commonly known in France as Monsieur Afrique (Mister Africa), for controlling Elf Aquitaine's operations in West Africa, especially in Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville, for more than 30 years.

Elf Aquitaine, formerly a state company, was taken over by another French oil giant, TotalFina, in 2000.

Tarallo allegedly helped Gabonese President Omar Bongo to buy, among other things, a luxurious flat in Paris, and to launder money obtained through illegal commissions. Tarallo also has been accused of ordering the transfer of illegal money into secret bank accounts, held by Bongo in Geneva, through the Elf subsidiaries Rivunion and Elf Trading.

Both agencies were based in Switzerland.

Bongo has confirmed the possession of one secret bank account.

In a letter to the board of directors of the Geneva-based Union Private Bank, Bongo argued that (Gabon's) ''national interests led me to open a bank account through an intermediary. I have always used this account for normal business practices''.

In June, Tarallo told prosecutors that Elf Aquitaine used to transfer some 60 million U.S. dollars annually into the secret bank accounts, held by African heads of state, in Liechtenstein and Switzerland in the 1970s.

With these transfers, Elf Aquitaine allegedly paid out commissions related to the concession of oil rights and oil purchases. Tarallo mentioned Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Angola and Nigeria as the countries whose heads of state allegedly profited from the illegal payments.

''If the price of a barrel of oil was 20 dollars,'' Tarallo explained to the prosecutors, ''Elf Aquitaine would transfer 40 cents into secret bank accounts in Liechtenstein and Switzerland.''

The beneficiaries of these transfers were heads of state, ministers or their families and friends, he claimed.

The French justice department has been investigating Elf's corruption scandals for seven years. During this period, the courts have sentenced top French officials, including former Foreign Minister Roland Dumas, to prison.

In most of these cases, Tarallo was called to testify as a witness. But last week, van Ruymbeke finally decided to accuse Tarallo of corruption.

Van Ruymbeke claims that between 1991 and 1993, some 40 million U.S. dollars passed through one of Tarallo's Swiss accounts, simply identified as Centuri, named after Tarallo's Corsican village.

In the 1980s, Tarallo built a mansion valued at 15 million U.S. dollars for ''receiving'' Elf's foreign guests.

French police, investigating Tarallo's money transfers, estimate that the suspect withdrew at least some 40 million dollars from his secret bank accounts ''for his personal use''.

''All the money went into the bank accounts of African heads of state and their supporters," Tarallo claimed.

According to him, the practices of ''kickback'' were not confined to Elf Aquitaine. ''All international oil companies have used them since the first oil shock of the 1970s to guarantee the companies' access to oil," Tarallo pointed out.

Tarallo is also being investigated in corruption cases related to Elf transactions in Spain and Germany.

In 1991, some 60 million U.S. dollars were paid out in illegal commissions when Elf bought Ertoil, a Spanish firm.

In 1992, Elf bought another refinery in Leuna, Germany, including the Minol service station. There, too, commissions, amounting to some 35 million dollars, were allegedly paid out to German officials.

Tarallo also has admitted that Elf Aquitaine secretly financed a number of political parties in France. ''I know that Elf paid some of the parties' bills, but I was not involved in these dealings,'' he claimed.

Loik Le Floch Prigent, Elf's president between 1989 and 1993, has made similar confessions. In ''Affaire Elf, affaire d'etat'', a new book he published on the Elf corruption scandals, Le Floch Prigent affirms that the oil company illegally financed political parties, especially the right-wing Neogaullist party.

Le Floch Prigent was sentenced last May to three-and-a-half years in prison, and fined some 350,000 dollars, for his involvement in the company's corruption scandals.

In his book, Le Floch Prigent recalled that most of his predecessors were members of the Neogaullist party.

Only the previous president of the company, Philippe Jaffre, has denied any wrongdoing. Jaffre, who headed Elf Aquitaine from 1993 to 2000, told van Ruymbeke that most accusations against the company were ''inventions and rumours''.

''There are no proofs that the company had black boxes filled with money, or secret bank accounts to finance politicians here and abroad,'' Jaffre said.

He also dismissed allegations of bribing African officials as ''unfounded''.

''After all, all the countries involved, be it Congo-Brazzaville, Angola or Gabon, are sovereign states, with authorities recognised internationally. Why should Elf Aquitaine question their sovereignty?'' he wondered.