Noriega's doubt over his former lawyer's 'suicide' in sea

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega today cast doubt on the apparent suicide of his former lawyer.

Noriega, 79, in jail in his homeland, said he was astounded by the death of Frenchman Olivier Metzner, 63.

Mr Metzner’s body was discovered washed up on the beach at his private island yesterday in the Gulf of Morbihan on the Brittany coast. Local police indicated a suicide note was found.

Today Noriega said he was “surprised” and “deeply hurt” to learn of the death of the distinguished barrister, saying that suicide was “incompatible with his personality”.

Named France’s most powerful lawyer by GQ magazine last year, Paris-based Mr Metzner bought Boëdic Island three years ago for weekends and holidays.

A key figure in numerous high-profile cases, he defended Noriega on money-laundering charges in 2010. Noriega got seven years and was later extradited back to Panama to serve 20 years over murder, corruption and embezzlement committed during his Eighties rule.

Mr Metzner’s other clients included Société Générale rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, and Continental Airlines, which was cleared in November of criminal responsibility for the 2000 Concorde crash which killed 113 people.

However, he was best known for his constant clashes with former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Two years ago Mr Metzner insisted: “I’m not an anti-Sarkozy lawyer,” as he highlighted alleged irregularities in the so-called Bettencourt affair, in which Mr Sarkozy and his lieutenants were accused of receiving millions of pounds from Liliane Bettencourt, 88, the L’Oréal heiress and France’s richest woman, in return for future tax breaks.

Mr Sarkozy has been named a material witness in the ongoing case, and Mr Metzner represented Mrs Bettencourt’s daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, who applied to have her mother made a ward of court.

Mr Sarkozy is facing a number of corruption inquiries, but has insisted he is entirely innocent. Mr Metzner also represented former prime minister Dominique de Villepin in the Clearstream affair involving alleged tax scams among senior French politicians, helping clear him of any wrongdoing in 2010.