2023-04-25 17:29:31
Nicholas Sarkozy. Federico Pestellini / PANORAMIC
Nicolas Sarkozy is the subject of a complaint filed by Anticor. The anti-corruption association suspects the existence of a corruption pact in connection with the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar.
The anti-corruption association Anticor confirmed on Tuesday that it had filed a complaint on April 7 against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, his ex-right-hand man Claude Guéant and the advertiser François de La Brosse, suspecting the existence of a corruption pact in link with the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar.
The complaint, revealed by The world also targets former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Ben Jassem al-Thani for influence peddling, bribery of a foreign public official, criminal association, illegal financing of an election campaign and concealment of this offence.
To support its complaint, Anticor relies on an article from the news site Mediapartpublished in September, reporting on the free collaboration of François de La Brosse, via his company ZNZ Group, in the presidential campaign won by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, then as a communication adviser at the Elysée.
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A give-and-take deal between Sarkozy and Qatar?
In 2011, ZNZ encountering financial difficulties, Mr. de La Brosse, who estimated the unbilled services at nearly 2.8 million euros, approached the former head of state and then Mr. Guéant.
always according to Mediapart, which cites an investigation document, ZNZ and the Qatari company Q.Media would then have signed a memorandum of understanding in the summer of 2011 for the creation of a web TV, “Enjoy Qatar”. Q.Media, owned by Mr. al-Thani’s son-in-law, reportedly paid 600,000 euros to ZNZ.
In its complaint, consulted by AFP, Anticor also mentions other invoices and Q.Media’s stake in the French company.
«Are we here faced with an offer of a corrupting pact that would have been made with the specific and unique objective of thanking François de La Brosse for his services, or rather facing the partial realization of a broader corrupting pact that would have been concluded previously between Nicolas Sarkozy and Qatar?asks the association.
«Claude Guéant has not been the subject of any questioning on this old subject for which there is nothing to reproach him for“Reacted his lawyer, Me Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi.
Platini also involved?
Anticor would like these elements to be attached to the judicial information on the conditions under which, on December 2, 2010, Fifa awarded Qatar the organization of the World Cup, which was played last fall in the emirate. . Anticor is a civil party in this case.
In this file, open since 2019, the investigators are trying to determine whether the designation of the Gulf country gave rise to “a give-and-take deal” concluded during a lunch at the Elysee Palace on November 23, 2010 bringing together Mr. Sarkozy, former footballer Michel Platini, then president of UEFA, and Mr. al-Thani, crown prince of Qatar who became emir in 2013.
For the association’s lawyer, Me Jean-Baptiste Soufron, “it was important for Anticor to take up this case because of its potential links with the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar on the one hand, but also because of the potential influence peddling and acts of corruption which would have been committed directly in connection with a presidential campaign”.
Mr. Sarkozy’s lawyer did not respond immediately.
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