Revealed: how top cop tipped off Sarkozy ally over Libyan funding investigation

AA senior policeman coached former interior minister Brice Hortefeux on how to handle questioning as part of the ongoing investigation into illegal Libyan funding of the 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy presidential campaign, Mediapart can reveal. The revelations appear in extracts from phone taps approved by judges investigating the funding claims, which also targeted Sarkozy himself and his lawyer Thierry Herzog.

The existence of the phone taps on Sarkozy and his lawyer have since sparked a major political and legal row, with the Right claiming they form part of a witch-hunt against the former head of state to hamper his bid to return to power in the 2017 presidential elections. Yet the calls between the top policeman and Hortefeux, the existence of which were first revealed by Le Monde last December but whose content is published here by Mediapart, reveal a wilful disregard for due legal process involving one of Nicolas Sarkozy's closest political allies and friends. In the calls the then senior detective in Paris Christian Flaesch – the director of the Police judiciaire parisienne – not only tips off Hortefeux about his impending questioning, he also coaches the former interior minister about how to handle the questioning and tells him what documents he needs to bring with him. At one point Flaesch tells him: “And when you see them, there's no point in telling them that you were already aware because I called you.”

Coming after the allegations that a senior judge tipped off Sarkozy and his lawyer about judicial progress in another major scandal – the Bettencourt affair – these latest revelations are further evidence of the intimate links between sections of the police and the judiciary and Sarkozy's inner circle, especially when the latter comes under legal threat. Since the existence of the calls were first made public last year Flaesch has lost his job, though he has not faced any legal action.
The first of the three calls, which last a total of 20 minutes, took place on the morning of November 6th, 2013, when Christian Flaesch phoned former interior minister Brice Hortefeux – his former political boss - to inform the latter that investigating judges had asked the police to carry out checks on him.

“Good morning Minister,” begins Flaesch. “I wanted to tell you that in the affair involving the financing of the 2007 campaign and the legal action by Nicolas Sarkozy [editor's note, the former president’s civil action over alleged forgery and use of false documents following Mediapart's exposure of the illegal Libyan funding] ...an investigating magistrate has been appointed and what he is asking us is to verify your schedule as well as that of [business intermediary and arms dealer] Ziad Takieddine for the 5th and 6th of October 2006.” The policeman reassures the former minister it is nothing out of the ordinary. “You have already been questioned and you have provided a certain number of facts, but don't worry because we're going to contact all the people with whom you were in contact at this time to verify your declarations.”

“Yes, but honestly I don't remember my schedule,” replies Hortefeux. Christian Flaesch then reminds the former minister that he went to a livestock show, the Sommet de l’élevage, at Cournon d'Auvergne in central France, then visited Brittany in west France, and reminded him of the names that he had already given to the police.

“So, don't worry. We are going to call all these people, [The judges] are asking us to go to the ministry for the diaries,” says the policeman. “A diary for which year? But is it for the whole year?” asks Hortefeux, sounding concerned. “No, it's for October 2006,” replies the policeman. “Don't worry.”

Hortefeux says he is annoyed that one of his enemies is among the witnesses. “He must be told that it is in the context of a complaint filed by Nicolas Sarkozy. That he should not repeat it everywhere,” says the former minister.

“I preferred to tell you in advance so that you didn't learn on the grapevine that we're in the process of carrying out an investigation,” explains Christian Flaesch. “If you have your diary, put it aside for us.”

At the end of the afternoon of the same day the senior detective called Hortefeux again. “I don't have the case directly so I'm going to say to the head of the service that you are in a position to provide the information that you're being asked for. And then, like that, they will officially ask you...”

“Ok, ok,” agrees Hortefeux. “Ok, well, I'll say to Martine [editor's note, his secretary]...”
“...to be ready,” adds the policeman. “And that we will ask her in detail about things in your diary and I am going to say to the investigators that you have found it and that your secretary can pull out what we're interested in.”
“Ok,” agrees Hortefeux before going on to ask about what was happening with Ziad Takieddine over his questioning.

'There's no point in telling the judges that you were already aware'

Eight days later on November 14th, Christian Flaesch once again called Brice Hortefeux. This time it was to tell the former minister about his next interview. “Congratulations, 24 hours late,” he says first of all. The previous day, November 13th, had been Saint Brice's day, in other words Hortefeux's feast day according to the Catholic Church.

“That's very kind,” replies Hortefeux. “What a well-informed man.”
The policeman then mentions a lavish lunch with senator Pierre Charon, a former advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy, before beginning his briefing.

Flaesch: “Ok, following on from the previous conversation, it's going to be the judges who will summon you and in particular ask you to supply your diaries.”
Hortefeux: “Ok.”
Flaesch: “That means you prepare for them and that you await the summons.”
Hortefeux: “Yes, I think it's December 20th. So in fact I simply have to prepare the diaries from when?”
Flaesch: “2006, it's the dates I asked you for.”
Hortefeux: “Ok.”
Flaesch: “In my opinion you need to go with photocopies or with the original. In any case they will ask you for details about that. And when you see them there's no point in telling them that you were already aware because I called you. There's no ...”
Hortefeux: “Ah, ok, ok!”
Flaesch: “...no need, because I did it like that...to prepare you.”
Christian Flaesch is perfectly aware that these calls are completely irregular from a procedural point of view. Meanwhile the conversation continues and Brice Hortefeux is still not entirely clear about matters.

Hortefeux: “The meeting was October? I no longer remember...”
Flaesch: “Yes, in fact, you're not obliged to turn up with all your diaries. In any case you can tell them that you will provide them later or that you're going to send someone to fetch them during the questioning.”
Hortefeux complains: “I don't understand why it has to start again.”
Flaesch: “Because there are details, in particular in relation to...because then you were questioned about the possibility that you may have left Clermont [editor's note, Clermont-Ferrand, the city close to Cournon d'Auvergne where Hortefux attended the livestock show].”
Hortefeux: “Yes.”

Flaesch: “For Libya. And that you might [have gone via] Switzerland.”
Hortefeux: Switzerland? It's funny that you say that. Mediapart asked me about it two years ago. There was a story about Switzerland. I haven’t set a damned foot in Switzerland, er, I haven't been to Geneva for 20 years.”
Flaesch: “In any case there's going to be our checks on your schedule.”
Hortefeux then refers to the “very public” nature of his ministerial schedule. “From any point of view I could see that it was difficult to be discreet when you were in government. That was something that I was very aware of,” he says. The former minister adds: “I'm going to try to find it. Since our conversation I've not found my diary. I don't think I've mislaid or lost it...”

The senior policeman and the former interior minister then talk about a story that L'Express magazine was preparing on Claude Guéant, the former secretary general of the Elysée Palace under President Sarkozy who was Hortefeux's successor as interior minister and whose phone was also tapped as part of the Libyan funding investigation. “I've met, I'll tell you, some journalists – well you must be aware of it – who are working on something at L'Express on Guéant,” says Hortefeux. “Oh of course, I'm aware,” replies the policeman, without spelling out how he knows about it.

“They told me that they had seen Claude. They met Takieddine for six hours!” says an astonished Hortefeux. Christian Flaesch complains: “That's going to keep us busy again, Tak's declarations!”
Hortefeux concludes: “Yes, I think so. Obviously he was very calm there. I don't know what he told them...”

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English version by Michael Streeter