PARIS: French judges on Thursday charged the head of Paris's public transport system with embezzlement in connection with a former prime minister's failed presidential campaign.

RATP head Pierre Mongin, who served as the chief of staff of former prime minister Edouard Balladur, was charged by magistrates investigating Balladur's 1995 presidential bid.

Nicolas Bazire, managing director of luxury goods group LVMH and Balladur's former campaign manager, was also charged with complicity in embezzlement.

Bazire, who had already been charged with receiving stolen goods and complicity in the misuse of corporate assets, denies any involvement.

Mongin did not make any comments to journalists but his lawyer Olivier Baratelli said he could contest the charge, saying the indictment was “unfounded and illegal”.

French investigators suspect a web of corruption behind the 1994 sale of submarines from France to Pakistan, with illegal funds going to the Balladur campaign in a scandal known as the “Karachi affair”.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who was a cabinet minister and Balladur's spokesman at the time, has also been linked to the affair.