Documents obtained by Mediapart show that the head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, Jean-François Copé, enjoyed more than what he maintains are purely amicable relations with a key suspect in the illegal political funding investigation in which members of the president's close entourage are implicated. For despite the UMP secretary-general's public claims that he "never had relations of a professional nature" with Ziad Takieddine, Mediapart can reveal that the Paris-based arms dealer paid for a visit for Copé to Lebanon, in which he organized a programme of meetings with the Lebanese prime minister and other senior political and business figures. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.
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Documents exclusively obtained by Mediapart, and now in the possession of police investigating suspected illegal political funding via French weapons sales abroad, detail a visit to the Lebanon by Jean-François Copé, the current leader of President Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, that was organized and paid for by Ziad Takieddine, a key suspect in the ongoing corruption enquiry.
The visit was made in October 2003, when Copé was the French government spokesman and secretary of state in charge of relations with parliament. In a programme organized by Takieddine, Copé met with then-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, several of his ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs) and a member of the Lebanese Constitutional Council. Copé's wife accompanied him on the three-day trip.
Copé, 47, who is also MP and mayor of the town of Meaux, east of Paris, has previously confirmed his friendship with Takieddine, but has until now denied any professional activities with the arms dealer who served as a principle intermediary in two French weapons sales that are the focus of the illegal funding investigation.
That enquiry is headed by independent magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, who last month placed Takieddine and two of the French president's longstanding friends and aides under formal investigation - one step short of charges - for their suspected role in the alleged scam. This centres on the sale to Pakistan of three Agosta-class submarines, and another sale of three Lafayette-class frigates to Saudi Arabia.
Van Ruymbeke has gathered compelling evidence that bribes destined for local officials in the deals - described as commissions - were partly siphoned off to return to France, via a complex financial structure, to fund the political movement of former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. At the time of the deals, Nicolas Sarkozy was Balladur's budget minister and became spokesman for his presidential campaign which was launched immediately after completion of the contracts in 1994.
Sarkozy, Balladur and Takieddine have denied any involvement in illegal funding activity.
In a series of articles that began in July, Mediapart has revealed the very close links between Takieddine and members of President Sarkozy's inner circle of advisors and friends, including ministers past and present. The articles, which include written and photographic documents exclusively obtained by Mediapart, also reveal that Takieddine continued to serve as a key intermediary in a number of business and weapons deals negotiated by Sarkozy's senior staff between 2003 and 2009 (see a complete list of links to the investigations at the end of this article, Page 2).
The Mediapart investigations also found that Takieddine surprisingly paid no income or wealth tax in France, where he has elected fiscal domiciliation and where his personal fortune totals, by his own estimations, some 40 million euros.
Mediapart has published photos of Copé and his wife holidaying with Takieddine, and disclosed how the arms dealer paid for holidays by the Copé family to London, Venice and Beirut.
During a controversial TV interview last month, Takieddine denied making any approach to Copé while he served as budget minister, between 2004 and 2007, for help in avoiding investigations by tax inspectors. Copé himself has denied ever having knowledge of Takieddine's fiscal details.
Takieddine began acquiring his wealth, estimated to amount worldwide to a total of about 100 million euros, from secret commissions he was paid in weapons deals between 1993 and 1995. During the September interview on French news channel BFMTV, Takieddine appeared to launch a warning to President Sarkozy over the developing funding scandal, when he declared: "I want to see the president, he has an interest, I think, and France has an interest, that he receives [meets] me for at least 15 minutes."
As recently as October 5th, the UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire) secretary-general told French news radio station France Info: "I have never had relations of a professional nature with Ziad Takieddine." He also objected to what he described as politically charged questions by the journalist interviewing him.
But the documents obtained by Mediapart show how Takieddine paid for and organized his trip to Lebanon between October 24th and 26th 2003. The programme prepared by Takieddine, who has never officially figured in any capacity as a servitor of the French government, was entitled ‘Visit to Beirut by Monsieur the Minister' (see document below). It included meetings with Prime Minister Hariri, four of his ministers, six MPs and a member of the Lebanese Constitutional Council, Antoine Kheir.
In the photos of the visit published below, Copé is pictured (top to bottom) alongside Takieddine, at the French embassy in Beirut standing beside a car bedecked with the French flag and dining with Lebanese ministers.
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'I don't see where the problem is'
The Lebanese ministers Copé met with, organized by Takieddine, were Marwan Hamadé (economy), Farès Bouez (environment), Michel Samaha (communications)) and Michel Moussa (relations with parliament). He was also introduced by Takieddine to the Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab, who seperately played a role in presenting Takieddine to the regime of deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
The programme of dinners and lunches with the ministers, former ministers and other senior figures is detailed in the document below.
Contacted by Mediapart about the programme organised by Takieddine, Copé's spokesman Guillaume Bazaille said: "I don't see where the problem is. We maintain that Monsieur Copé never had professional relations with Monsieur Takieddine, even if his trip to Lebanon in 2003 included an official part."
Philippe Lecourtier, French ambassador to Lebanon at the time of Copé's trip, told Mediapart that he could not remember meeting Takieddine. Despite the evidence of his contact with Takieddine, as illustrated in the photo below, Lecourtier claimed the arms dealer was not among people he dealt with. "He was not among my interlocutors," he said.
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Indeed, Copé's visit was not limited to official business. He also visited the ancient ruins of Baalbek and Kefraya in the Bekaa Valley, and travelled to Takieddine's native village of Baakline, in the Chouf region.
The generosity of Takieddine towards Copé included not only paying for the Lebanon visit, and trips by the Copé family to London, Venice and holidaying at the arms dealer's French Riviera villa in Cap d'Antibes. Financial documents belonging to Takieddine and obtained by Mediapart show a note of credit for the "Copé family", dated April 2004, amounting to 19,050 euros (see document below).
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For more on this story and Mediapart's exclusive investigations into the political scandal surrounding the activities of arms dealer Ziad Takieddine, click on the links below:
French IT group Bull horned by libyan internet espionage deal
French judge finds key evidence in illegal funding probe
British divorcee becomes key witness in French political funding scandal
Net closes in on French presidency after funding 'scam' arrests
Arms dealer probe brings illegal funding scandal closer to Sarkozy
The secret financier who brings danger to the Sarkozy clan
Sarkozy, the arms dealer, and a secret 350 million-euro commission
The well-connected arms dealer and his tax returns
How Sarkozy aides saved arms dealer from paradise island 'death blow'
Exclusive: how Sarkozy's team sought grace for Gaddafi's murderous henchman
The arms dealer and his Paris party for the glitterati
Exlusive: how President Sarkozy's team dealt with Gaddafi
When Total paid the bill for the Elysée's secret emissary
How French intelligence shields the sarkozy clan's unofficial emissary
Divorce court freezes arms broker's assets
The French-built stealth offroader that may be hiding Gaddafi
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English version: Graham Tearse