Former top boss convicted in the Elf affair, Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, has died at the age of 81.

Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, a former CEO of major French public companies who spent several years in prison, died Wednesday night in Paris of cancer at the age of 81, his wife announced to AFP.

"Until the end, the great captain of industry that he was fought as much for his companies as for the defense of French industry," wrote Marlène Le Floch-Prigent in a statement sent to AFP.

He managed major French companies such as Rhône-Poulenc (1982-1986), Elf Aquitaine (1989-1993), bought by Total in 1999, GDF (1993-1995) and SNCF (1995-1996).

"Loïk had a passion for France, which he served with determination, both in the private sector and as a great servant of the State," added Ms Le Floch-Prigent in her message.

But he is also known to have spent about two years in prison for financial misdeeds.

Five years in prison

Judge Eva Joly had uncovered a network of influence peddling, corruption and embezzlement involving the leaders of the Elf group, including Loïk Le Floch-Prigent, and ministers such as Roland Dumas and Charles Pasqua from 1989 to 1993.

Mr. Le Floch-Prigent was sentenced in 2003 to five years in prison for misuse of corporate assets in the main part of the Elf case, involving nearly 305 million euros of embezzlement.

He was released three years early in April 2004, citing health reasons, but in September 2010 had to return to the prison he could not bear for a few months.

"As he was president of Elf, he paid the price," his widow told AFP.

In 2012, he was arrested in Ivory Coast and extradited to Togo, where he was placed in pretrial detention for five months in a fraud case. Returning to France the following year, he maintains his innocence.

In recent years, he worked as a "consultant" in the industry, his "hobby horse," and "he was still working until the end," his wife told AFP.