The damning report notes that the Mediterranean island accounts for half of France's total of violent attacks, even though Corsica contains only 0.5% of the country's total population.

Murder and attempted murder rates on the island are three times the national average. Organised intimidation and violence are commonplace, and policemen and judges are targetted.

The report speaks of a "pre-Mafia" situation in Corsica. It contrasts Corsica's worsening crime rates with the situation in Italy, where the authorities have managed to reduce the levels of Mafia crime in recent years.

Impunity of the criminals

"The widow has no guarantee that the killer of her husband will be punished, the victim of a bombing that its author will be vigorously pursued, the judge that his personal security will be assured, the tax-payer that his money will be properly spent," the report states.

No answer yet to Erignac's murder

The inquiry was set up in March, a month after the state's senior representative on the island, the prefect Claude Erignac, was murdered. No one has yet been charged for the crime.

The report speaks of a climate of impunity, and a law of silence and of fear.

State financial institutions, such as banks, issued loans which were never repaid, to people who did not qualify for them.

Abuse of the social security system is also revealed, with allowances to the handicapped being paid at two to three times the national average. Other major irregularities were found in the health, local government and housing services.

The report condemns attempts by successive governments to buy off Corsican nationalists with concessions and a cascade of public money. It says many of the nationalists are heavily involved in organised crime.