Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, the engineer-turned-executive who once ran some of France’s largest state-controlled companies, died on 16 July in Paris at the age of 81, his wife told Agence France-Presse. She said the former industrialist succumbed to cancer after a long illness. Over a 15-year span Le Floch-Prigent headed Rhône-Poulenc, Elf Aquitaine, Gaz de France and the SNCF, earning a reputation as a combative defender of heavy industry. Governments of both the left and the right tapped him to steer strategic assets through restructuring and global competition. His legacy was overshadowed by the Elf affair, one of the Fifth Republic’s biggest corruption scandals. In 2003 a Paris court handed him a five-year sentence—of which he served roughly two—for abusing corporate assets tied to some €305 million in diverted funds. The conviction followed a probe led by magistrate Eva Joly that uncovered a vast network of kickbacks and political slush funds. After leaving prison Le Floch-Prigent continued to advise mid-sized manufacturers and comment on industrial policy, insisting he had been made a scapegoat for a “system of state.” He remained active until shortly before his death, according to his family.