Eriadu Trade Summit The Eriadu Trade Summit was an event proposed by Senator Palpatine in 33 BBY , ostensibly to gather all parties affected by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum ' s proposal to allow the Trade Federation an increase in standing permissible armament in exchange for Galactic Senate taxation of free - trade zones . The Nebula Front , a radical political group that opposed the Trade Federation , was specifically not allowed to attend the event . That decision , as it combined with the Front ' s longstanding disquiet and its mistrust of the Republic Senate , resulted in the first of two staged ' attempts ' on Valorum ' s life by the spurned Nebula Front ' s extremist leadership — the first occurring on Coruscant , and the second , at the Summit itself . The well - publicized event was held on the planet of Eriadu , an important trade world in the Outer Rim . As it played out , however , the Trade Summit ended in disaster . The majority of the Trade Federation Directorate — the enemy ' s true target — was assassinated by its own security force in a plan carefully orchestrated by Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious , who made the Nebula Front appear responsible for the murders . No consensus was reached at Eriadu regarding the taxation of trade routes , and the Trade Federation was placed under the leadership of Nute Gunray , who would proceed — in protest of the Senate ' s subsequent legislation to tax the free - trade zones anyway , without any reciprocal agreement to benefit or protect the Federation whatsoever — to blockade all trade to the planet of Naboo . History . In 33 BBY increased political pressure was placed on Finis Valorum , the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic , by the Trade Federation and its political allies regarding his proposal to tax trade routes in the outer systems . In order to discuss Valorum ' s proposed legislation , the senator from Naboo , Palpatine , suggested that a summit be held on the Outer Rim planet of Eriadu , where the Trade Federation and its delegates could share their ideas on the proposed legislation and debate with their political opponents . The summit was to serve as a platform for all relevant parties to express their viewpoints on the taxation of the outer trade routes ; as such , all voting on the matter was postponed until the summit ' s completion . The summit itself was held in Seswenna Hall in Eriadu City . Organizations and governments invited to the Summit included the Association of Free Trade Worlds , the Commerce Guild , the Corporate Alliance , the Hutts , the Rights of Sentience League , Senex sector , the Stark Veteran Assembly , the Techno Union , and the Trade Federation . Although the Republic was represented by Valorum personally , many of its member worlds were allowed their own delegations , including Bothawui , Clak ' dor VII , Falleen , Malastare , and Sullust . The Nebula Front itself was not invited despite its concerns regarding the Trade Federation , because Valorum believed that it would only grant them unwarranted legitimacy . The Nebula Front , however , was concerned that the Trade Federation would pass on the additional costs of taxation to those who used their shipping services . Having been denied a voice at the trade summit , the Nebula Front ' s enigmatic leader Eru Matalis — known to his allies as Havac ( but who , as the Front ' s former Eriadu - cell leader , was under secret conscription to Eriadu Lieutenant Governor Wilhuff Tarkin in league with higher and darker powers ) — made ' plans ' with the mercenary Captain Cohl to assassinate Valorum during the trade summit ( a sinister decoy to the real target : the Federation Directorate ) . The Front ' s ' official ' intent , as propagated by its extremist leader , Havac , was to prevent the new taxation in the hope that the outer worlds could avoid increased shipping costs while the Front continued its campaign of violence against the Trade Federation ; a more moderate ( and less violent ) faction of the Front wished for more temperate means to achieve its goals . As the Eriadu Summit was essentially a meeting of the Republic and Trade Federation , those organizations were represented by their leaders , the Supreme Chancellor and the Directorate , respectively . However , it was to be a serious mistake ; in an act orchestrated by Darth Sidious , security droids assassinated six of the seven Directorate members as the Front ' s extremist leadership ( the founder of its militant wing ) created an illusion : Havac staged ( for the second time in weeks ) a falsely orchestrated ' attempt ' on the life of Valorum , to conjure in the Republic ' s mind an overwhelming bias not only for the suspected target , but also for the ' obvious ' culpability of the Nebula Front ( that is , the " conglomerate , seemingly united public face " of its disparate factions ) . In the end , the Nebula Front was held responsible for all murderous attacks — both true " and " feigned — that occurred at the Trade Summit . As a result , the Summit ended prematurely , with nothing resolved . It was a major public relations disaster for both the Jedi who failed to prevent the attacks , and for Valorum himself . Lieutenant Governor Tarkin , complicit in the murders — having arranged delivery to Seswenna Hall of the rogue ' commander ' droid that drove the killing rampage of the Federation ' s own ' follower ' droids — blocked ( or irreparably stalled ) all subsequent investigative attempts under the auspices of Eriaduan jurisdiction . The Senate unilaterally passed its new taxation laws anyway , while also passing restrictions on the Chancellor ' s use of the Judicial Department and Jedi Order . The deaths of his hapless colleagues allowed Viceroy Nute Gunray to assume direct control of the Trade Federation and order a blockade of Naboo as retaliation against the Republic and Naboo ' s treacherous senator who had proposed , but failed to make good on , a summit to fairly consider Valorum ' s taxation proposal . Thus , the Summit ' s failure and the Senate ' s arbitrary action set the stage for the blockade and Battle of Naboo . The Naboo stopover . As a repercussionistic sidenote to this Trade Summit account , Palpatine — who made a brief Naboo stopover visit at the request of King Ars Veruna on his way to the Eriadu summit from Coruscant — had , by the time he reached Eriadu , already been apprised of the imminent Bando Gora - Gardulla - Black Sun - Veruna plot to kill Hego Damask ( Palpatine ' s master , Darth Plagueis ) : the self - same nuclear bombardment of the Sojourn - moon that Palpatine himself had orchestrated , unbeknownst to his unwitting pawns ( and clearly also to his own dark ' master ' ) . A drunken Veruna gloated amidst a banquet thrown for his dark accomplices ( all of whom , it appeared to Palpatine , were in attendance ) that the King was now , even as he spoke and the Trade Summit events unfurled , ' ending ' his partnership with both Damask and the Trade Federation — bragging that the senator need not bother about giving any sort of warning to his IBC associate , for " Palpatine would not be seeing him again " . Which is to say , that the nuclear run on Sojourn was being carried out at that very moment . But despite what were meant to be vitriolic , hurtful words at the senator ' s expense , Palpatine / Darth Sidious silently gloried in the sublime ignorance of everyone about him , quietly amused himself with the wholly painless jabs of his would - be injurers : the Naboo senator couldn ' t have been more delighted that a nuclear bomb was on its way to Sojourn , where his unsuspecting ' master ' was surely laboring diligently in his life - extension labs , busy in his quest for everlasting life through midi - chlorian manipulation . After all , it was Palpatine who , some time earlier , had ingeniously planted the seeds for such an attack in Veruna ' s mind , had quietly manipulated the King ' s thinking , to cause him to believe that he had engendered the idea himself . It was only a short time later , amidst the rousing orchestral music that preceded the commencement of the Trade Summit event in Eriadu City ' s Seswenna Hall , that Naboo ' s senatorial delegate to the Galactic Republic mentioned to a small group of fellow senators also in attendance ( one of whom had noticed Palpatine ' s rather pensive demeanor , a seeming preoccupation ) that he ' d just learned of " King Veruna ' s sudden abdication of the throne " . This gossip - inducing news — communicated to Palpatine by Damask himself , and which had occurred , the Muun said , immediately after Jabba the Hutt had delivered to the Naboo monarch the startling revelation of his bitter enemy ' s almost - miraculous survival of Sojourn ' s nuclear blast — defined a watershed event for the future of the galaxy ( for it marked Amidala ' s rise to the throne and all that would flow from that seminal event ) . In the sequence of Eriadu events dealing with the Trade Federation controversy , Veruna ' s abdication was thus shown to follow on the heels of ( for it was directly brought on by ) the failed nuclear attempt on Damask ' s life . That the nuclear mission had been a failure accounts , perhaps , for Palpatine ' s pensive aspect , but otherwise things were developing precisely according to the senator ' s own interpretation — his personal galactic view — of the Grand Plan , and he was pleased . Behind the scenes . The Eriadu Trade Summit featured in the 2001 novel " Cloak of Deception " , written by James Luceno . The event was later mentioned in Luceno ' s other novels , " Darth Plagueis " and " Labyrinth of Evil " . The summit was also noted in " The New Essential Guide to Characters " , " The New Essential Chronology " , and the " " and " " .