The controversial phone taps on former French president Nicolas Sarkozy made earlier this year, and which sparked a political row, show evidence of a plot to neutralise the judges who are investigating him, Mediapart can reveal. This website has had access to the summary of seven calls made between Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog which show that the two made made use of what was in effect a dirty tricks unit to find out what was happening in both the Bettencourt affair and the investigation relating to Libyan funding of Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign. The affair now looks set to become a major state scandal in its own right. On the face of it the calls suggest that there was an attempt to violate the secrets of a judicial investigation and to corrupt a senior judge.
The phone buggings show the incredible lengths that Sarkozy went to in a bid to avoid detection from being eavesdropped, even asking his lawyer to make a call on his official line to “give the impression of having a conversation”. They reveal not only how Sarkozy and Herzog made use of senior judge Gilbert Azibert to find out about the progress of the Bettencourt affair – in return for helping him get a desirable job in Monaco for his retirement - but how that judge also sought information on the affair from three senior judicial officials. The calls disclose that Herzog and Sarkozy had a highly-placed source in the state apparatus whom they used to monitor progress of the Libyan investigation. After these calls were tapped and their contents transcribed, a new investigation was opened by the judicial authorities into “influence peddling”.
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The calls took place between January 28th and February 11th this year at a time when Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog feared their calls were being monitored. Indeed, the police believe that someone tipped off Sarkozy that his phone was being tapped. The former president bought a new mobile phone in Nice in southern France and Nicolas Sarkozy assumed a new name – 'Paul Bismuth' – in a bid to escape detection. Neither man knew that the new phones were also being bugged by the police.
The first conversation that attracted the attention of the police officers assisting in the investigations took place on Tuesday January 28th at 12.24pm. Thierry Herzog informs Nicolas Sarkozy of the content of the memo from the rapporteur at the appeal court the Cour de Cassation in relation to the issue of his diaries, which had been seized by judges investigating the Bettencourt affair. A great deal was at stake: the former president wanted to annul the seizure of these diaries, which had already been made use of in the Tapie affair, to stop them being used in other affairs that threatened him, such as the Libyan funding scandal. In the call Thierry Herzog is optimistic. He thinks that the official opinion of the general prosecutor on the issue will be favourable to his client. Nicolas Sarkozy asks him if “our friend” - the senior appeal court judge Gilbert Azibert – has information that contradicts this. Herzog says no.
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The following day, on Wednesday January 29th, there is a fresh call at 7.25pm. Herzog informs his client that he has just spoken to “Gilbert”. The judge had suggested that they do not pay attention to the “deliberately neutral” content of the rapporteur's report over the diary affair. According to “Gilbert”, the rapporteur is in reality in favour of their seizure being annulled. Nicolas Sarkozy's mole at the Cour de Cassation said that the official advice of the advocate general – the senior prosecutor – on the issue of the diaries would be given as late as possible, but that it, too, would conclude by calling for the diary seizure to be annulled. According to the summary of the phone conversation, “Gilbert” had lunched with the advocate general. Lawyer Thierry Herzog is delighted with the devotion of their informant. He has “toiled away” he tells Nicolas Sarkozy. In an astonishing turn of phrase the lawyer concludes that the court of appeal should follow the advocate general's advice “unless the law ends up by winning”.
The next call is on Thursday January 30th at 8.40pm, to discuss the prosecution's formal advice, which has arrived more quickly than expected. Thierry Herzog reads it to Nicolas Sarkozy. The lawyer notes that he spoke to “Gilbert” in the morning, who had told him that the Cour de Cassation should, according to him, follow the advice to annul the diary seizures. The phone tap suggests that “Gilbert” has had access to the confidential advice of the rapporteur to his colleagues, advice which should not be published. This advice also concludes that the seizure should be annulled and that all mentions relative to these diaries in the Bettencourt affair should be withdrawn. “That is going to make some work for those bastards from Bordeaux,” says Herzog, referring to the judges who put Nicolas Sarkozy under formal investigation in the Bettencourt affair – the case against him was later dropped. The lawyer goes on to tell the former president that the sending of the advocate general’s opinion to them is not standard procedure and that they should not talk of it for the time being.
The next call is on Saturday February 1st at 11.22am and Nicolas Sarkozy is worried. He has been informed by an unnamed source of a plan to search his offices by judges who are handling his complaint against Mediapart in the Libyan funding affair – the former head of states claims the Mediapart story in April 2012 that claims to have proof of the financing was in fact based on a false document. In the call Sarkozy asks his lawyer Thierry Herzog to “get in contact with our friends to make sure they are vigilant.” He adds: “You never know.” The lawyer doesn't believe the information, but adds “I will call my correspondent this morning anyway...because they are obliged to go via him”. This strongly suggests that Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer have an active mole in the state machinery. Sarkozy is worried about how this source should be consulted. Herzog reassures him, telling the former president that he has “a speech with him prepared”, in other words a pre-arranged code to communicate with him. “He understands straight away what one is talking about,” adds the lawyer.
The same day, 20 minutes later at 11.46am, Sarkozy calls his lawyer. The police officers who are listening overhear something which is scarcely believable. The former head of the French state asks his lawyer to call him on his official line so “that one gives the impression of having a conversation”. Thierry Herzog then asks him what he should speak about. Nicolas Sarkozy suggests talking about the discussions of the court of appeal. Herzog suggests doing so “without triumphalism”, to say that they have the official opinion of the advocate general and to make clear, too, that they are not going to divulge it, because that's not their style. Nicolas Sarkozy interrupts him to ask him if “the judges who are listening” themselves have this formal opinion. When the lawyer says no, Nicolas Sarkozy concludes that “there's no point in informing them”. Herzog also suggests that his client pretends to ask him about the complaint he has made against Mediapart. He says that he will call him straight away on his official line. “That makes it more natural,” he says.
In a call on Wednesday February 5th at 9.42am the two men return to the Bettencourt affair. Thierry Herzog has some good news for Nicolas Sarkozy. He has just spoken to “Gilbert”. The senior judge has a meeting the same day “with one of the [legal] councillors” in charge of the diaries affair to “fully explain it to him”. “Gilbert” is optimistic and asked Thierry Herzog if he might say so to the former president. The lawyer told him that this is not practical for the moment, but promises him that Nicolas Sarkozy will see him, because he is “perfectly” aware of all that he is doing for him. Gilbert Azibert had raised with Thierry Herzog the issue of his desire to be nominated for a position in Monaco. According to the phone tap Nicolas Sarkozy claims to be ready to help. Herzog had in any case reassured “Gilbert” about the matter. “You're joking, with all you're doing...”
The final call is late in the evening, at 10.11pm, on Tuesday February 11th. Thierry Herzog, who has just spoken to “Gilbert” on the phone, tells Nicolas Sarkozy that the judge “will go hunting tomorrow”. Gilbert had indicated that the day before he had met a councillor at the Cour de Cassation for their benefit, and that he was getting ready to see “a third”, before the judges deliberated, on the afternoon of the following day.
In fact, following these calls, Sarkozy was to lose right across the board. Not only was the seizure of the diaries not annulled, but the bugging of his secret telephone line also led to the opening on February 26th of a formal judicial investigation into “influence peddling”.
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English version by Michael Streeter