The phrase comes up again and again, repeated ad nauseam. "The Assala deal is irreproachable." Executives at the Geneva-based commodities trading group, Gunvor, like those of the state-owned oil company, Gabon Oil Co (GOC), state this assuredly. The dinner, at the trader's expense, to celebrate the signing of the billion-dollar loan that allowed GOC to nationalise Assala Energy, doesn't really count. This meal, at the Opéra Garnier restaurant, CoCo, in Paris, on 21 June 2024, shared in a setting