The government prosecutors hired Bernard Jouanneau, a French lawyer to investigate as well as recover some of the millions of CAR francs that Bokassa had diverted from the national treasury and from both social and charity funds for his own personal use in the embezzlement charges.

Bokassa also opened a public transport system in Bangui and subsidized the creation of two national orchestras.

After Bokassa reciprocated by meeting Tombalbaye on 2 April 1966 along the southern border of Chad at Fort Archambault, the two decided to help one another if either was in danger of losing power.

On 10 October 1979, the Canard Enchaîné satirical newspaper reported that President Bokassa had offered the then Minister of Finance Valéry Giscard d ' Estaing two diamonds in 1973.

On 20 September 1979, Dacko, with French support, led a bloodless coup that overthrew Bokassa while he was out of the country.

* September 20 – French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Bokassa in the Central African Republic.

Widespread violence in Bangui followed the March 1981 elections, which took place following a French operation to depose Jean-Bédel Bokassa in 1979 and replace him with David Dacko.

In 1979 French troops helped drive Bokassa out of power and restore former president David Dacko.

Bokassa was born on 22 February 1921 as one of 12 children to Mindogon Mgboundoulou, a village chief, and his wife Marie Yokowo in Bobangui, a large M ' Baka village in the Lobaye basin located at the edge of the equatorial forest, then a part of colonial French Equatorial Africa, some southwest of Bangui.

After graduating in 1939, Bokassa took the advice offered to him by his grandfather, M ' Balanga, and Father Grüner, by joining the French Army as a private on 19 May.

After Hué bore him a daughter, Bokassa had the child registered as a French national.

On 1 January 1962, Bokassa left the French Army and joined the military forces of the CAR with the rank of battalion commandant.

Due to his relation to Dacko and experience abroad in the French military, Bokassa was able to quickly rise through the ranks of the army, becoming the Central African army's first colonel on 1 December 1964.

However, Dacko forbade his return, and the infuriated Bokassa spent the next few months trying to obtain supporters from the French and Central African armed forces, who he hoped would force Dacko to reconsider his decision.

Bokassa claimed that Dacko finally gave up after French President Charles de Gaulle had personally told Dacko that " Bokassa must be immediately returned to his post.

Bokassa received substantive support from his co-conspirator, Captain Alexandre Banza, who commanded the Camp Kassaï military base in northeast Bangui, and, like Bokassa, had been stationed with the French army around the world.

In the early days of his regime, Bokassa engaged in self-promotion before the local media, showing his countrymen his French army medals, and displaying his strength, fearlessness and masculinity.

At first, the French government was reluctant to support the Bokassa regime, so Banza went to Paris to meet with French officials to convince them that the coup was necessary to save the country from turmoil.

Bokassa met with Prime Minister Georges Pompidou on 7 July 1966, but the French remained noncommittal in offering their support.

To the Bokassa regime, this visit meant that the French had finally accepted the new changes in the country.

In 1975, the French president Valéry Giscard d ' Estaing declared himself a " friend and family member " of Bokassa.

In early December 1979, the French council officially stopped all support to Bokassa.

By January 1979, French support for Bokassa had all but eroded after food riots in Bangui led to a massacre of civilians.

The massive worldwide press coverage which followed the deaths of the students opened the way for a successful coup which saw French troops ( in " Opération Barracuda ") invade the Central African Empire and restored former president David Dacko to power while Bokassa fled into exile by airplane to the Ivory Coast ( Côte d ' Ivoire ) on 20 September 1979.

But the French courts ordered that all 8, 000 copies of the book be confiscated and destroyed after his publisher claimed that Bokassa said that he shared women with President Valéry Giscard d ' Estaing, who has been a frequent guest in the Central African Republic.

Bokassa also claimed to have given Giscard a gift of diamonds worth around a quarter of a million dollars in 1973 while the French president was serving as finance minister.

Bokassa first secured diplomatic recognition from President François Tombalbaye of neighboring Chad, whom he met in Bouca, Ouham.

In 2010, President François Bozizé issued a decree rehabilitating Bokassa and calling him " a son of the nation recognised by all as a great builder ".

GIR was led by François Pehoua, a former minister in the Bokassa cabinet.

Most controversial, however, was his involvement with the Bokassa regime of the Central African Republic and with a diamond smuggling scandal involving the dictator, by which he personally profited.

Jean-Arthur Bandio, the minister of interior, suggested Dacko name Bokassa to the Cabinet, which he hoped would both break the colonel's close connections with the CAR army and satisfy the colonel's desire for recognition.

In exchange, Bokassa frequently took d ' Estaing on hunting trips in Central Africa and supplied France with uranium, which was vital for France's nuclear energy and weapons program in the Cold War era.

The prosecutor was Gabriel-Faustin M ' Boudou, the Chief Prosecutor of the CAR, who called various witnesses to testify against Bokassa, which included remembering victims ranging from political enemies to a newborn son of a palace guard commander who had been executed for attempting to kill Bokassa in 1978 when he was the self-proclaimed emperor.

One of the most lurid allegations against Bokassa was the charge of cannibalism, which was technically superfluous.

The massive press coverage which followed the deaths of the students opened the way for a successful coup which saw French troops ( in Opération Barracuda ) restore former president David Dacko to power while Bokassa was away in Libya on 20 September 1979.

On the night of September 20 – 21, 1979, French paratroopers carried out Operation Barracuda, which overthrew Bokassa and restored Dacko to the presidency.

* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.

Bokassa felt that he needed to take over the CAR government to solve all the country's problems — most importantly, to rid the country from the influence of communism.

Around midnight, Bokassa, Banza and their supporters left Camp de Roux to take over the capital.

Later, Bokassa's officers announced on Radio-Bangui that the Dacko government had been toppled and Bokassa had taken over control.

Bokassa and Banza had a major argument over the country's budget, as Banza adamantly opposed the president's extravagant spending.

Bokassa spent the equivalent of over 20 million United States dollars, a quarter of the country ’ s government annual income, on his coronation ceremony.