Fabrice Arfi

All his articles

• How the Aga Khan was exonerated from taxes by Sarkozy

  International — Investigation

  In a letter signed in 2008, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy used exceptional powers to exonerate the Aga Khan, one of the world’s richest royals, from paying any form of tax in France, where he is a resident, Mediapart can reveal. The fiscal status was approved by then-budget minister Eric Woerth, mayor of, and Member of Parliament for, the town of Chantilly, north of Paris, where the Aga Khan initiated and largely funded the financial rescue of the town’s historic racecourse and equestrian centre. The letter, dated April 4th 2008 and exclusively revealed here, promised that the religious leader would benefit from an “exoneration of direct taxes, stamp duty and wealth tax.” Woerth is currently cited in two judicial investigations into suspected corruption, one involving the financial affairs of L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, the other into the sale of state-owned forest land to a horse-racing company in Compiègne, close to Chantilly. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.

  24 October 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

• Sailing away on 'ill-gotten gains'

  International — Investigation

  

  Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, high-living son of the president of Equatorial Guinea and vice-president of the country, wanted by France and the United States on charges of money-laundering and embezzlement, is on the point of purchasing one of the world’s largest luxury yachts (pictured) for the sum of 200 million dollars. Mediapart has discovered that a company was especially set up in Equatorial Guinea to carry out the acquisition of the vessel from the family of the late Saudi crown prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. It is a remarkable snub to a French judicial investigation into so-called 'ill-gotten gains' of several African leaders and which has uncovered compelling evidence that Obiang Mangue and his father have acquired massive personal fortunes through illegally stripping the assets of the small west-central African state, where an estimated 75% of the population live below the poverty line. Fabrice Arfi reports.

  12 October 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi

• Gaddafi 'executed by French' – revelations of a Libyan agent

  International — Interview

  

  French agents helped capture and then kill Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, according to a senior figure in the Libyan revolution. In an interview with Mediapart, Rami el-Obeidi, ex-head of intelligence for Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), said: “French agents directly executed Gaddafi.” The reason, says el-Obeidi, was that Gaddafi's threat to reveal details of his funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign “was taken sufficiently seriously for whoever at the Elysée to want the rapid death of Gaddafi”. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report on this explosive new twist in the saga of Sarkozy and Gaddafi's close ties.

  2 October 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

• Kadhafi « exécuté » : les révélations d’un agent libyen

  International — Interview

  

  Dans un entretien à Mediapart, Rami El Obeidi, ancien coordinateur du renseignement extérieur auprès du Conseil national de transition (CNT) libyen, assure que « des agents français ont directement exécuté Kadhafi ». Selon lui, « la menace d’une révélation d’un financement de Sarkozy en 2006-2007 a été suffisamment prise au sérieux pour que quiconque à l’Élysée veuille la mort de Kadhafi très rapidement ». L'attaque aérienne ayant visé le convoi de Kadhafi était « dirigée par la DGSE et des responsables à l’Élysée ».

  2 October 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

• Senior French civil servant tells corruption probe Sarkozy signed off secret commissions

  International — Investigation

  A senior French civil servant has told a corruption investigation that former president Nicolas Sarkozy personally authorized the payment of secret commission payments from French armament contracts which are suspected of being used to illegally finance political activity. Mediapart can reveal that Patricia Laplaud, a former budget ministry financial supervisor of armaments sales gave a statement to the investigation, led by two Paris-based judges, in which she says that Sarkozy, when budget minister in 1994, ordered the secret cash transfers despite opposition from his ministerial advisors. Part of the sums were subsequently withdrawn in cash from Swiss bank accounts by Franco-Lebanese arms dealer Ziad Takieddine, who continued to serve until 2009 as an intermediary in weapons contracts organized by Sarkozy’s staff. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.

  7 September 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

• Past honeymoon with Assad unmasks Sarkozy 'intervention' call

  International — Investigation

  

  Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has finally broken the silence he has kept since failing to be re-elected in May, with a widely-reported call for urgent international intervention against the massacres perpetrated by the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The appeal was contained in a joint statement signed with Syrian opposition leader Abdulbaset Sieda, president of the Istanbul-based Syrian National Council. Sarkozy’s return to the public platform was a thinly-disguised attack on his socialist successor, François Hollande, who the former president’s conservative UMP party have criticised as being ineffective and indecisive over the crisis in Syria. But it was also in stark contrast to the extent and nature of Sarkozy’s past dealings with Assad and his regime and which mirrored his ties with other Arab dictators. Fabrice Arfi reports. 

  10 August 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi

• When Barclays financed money-laundering Paris arms dealer while eyeing business with Gaddafi

  International — Investigation

  

  Barclays bank agreed a multi-million-euro loan to a Lebanese arms dealer now at the centre of a major French political corruption scandal despite its knowledge that his vast personal fortune was hidden from the tax authorities in money-laundering offshore companies, Mediapart can reveal. In a confidential document revealed here, a senior manager with the bank's private client arm, Barclays Wealth, recommended the 13.6 million-euro loan with the avowed aim of using Ziad Takieddine (pictured) to help Barclays further its activities with the now-deposed regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.

  18 July 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

• Mediapart lawyers call for key Sarkozy-Gaddafi election payment witness to be heard by French judge

  International

  After former Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi was extradited back to Libya last weekend there has been growing concern for his welfare. His local lawyers say they have not been able to contact him since Sunday. Lawyers acting for Mediapart have now asked the French authorities to ensure that a French judge can interview him in Tripoli about the funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign by the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.

  28 June 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

• Sarkozy/Kadhafi: les avocats de Mediapart demandent l'audition de Baghdadi

  International

  Trois jours après l’extradition de l’ancien premier ministre libyen, les avocats de Mediapart ont demandé au procureur de la République de Paris, que la justice française procède à son « audition », à Tripoli, sur les soupçons de financements occultes de Nicolas Sarkozy. En Libye, les avocats de Baghdadi n'arrivent plus à le joindre depuis dimanche.

  27 June 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske

• Extradited former Libyan premier wanted to speak to French judge over illegal election campaign funding

  International

  Ex-Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi was controversially extradited to Libya from Tunisia just two days after offering to “reveal all” to a judge who is investigating allegations of illegal funding of election campaigns in France. Lawyers claim that Mahmoudi, who has already confirmed that the Libyan regime regime under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi provided 50 million euros for Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign, has been beaten during interrogation since his return.

  26 June 2012

  by Karl Laske and Fabrice Arfi

• L'ex-premier ministre libyen voulait parler au juge Van Ruymbeke

  International — Interview

  Extradé en Libye dimanche par le gouvernement tunisien, l'ancien premier ministre Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi avait pris contact via son avocat, vendredi, avec le juge de l’affaire Takieddine. « Il allait être amené à parler des financements des campagnes électorales et des questions d’enrichissement personnel », explique son avocat, Me Ceccaldi, à Mediapart.

  25 June 2012

  by Karl Laske and Fabrice Arfi

• Exclusive: Sarkozy's chat with Gaddafi on nuclear deal and 'delicate questions'

  International — Investigation

  

  A transcription of a conversation between the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and Nicolas Sarkozy, the first held by the two men following Sarkozy’s election as president in May 2007, reveals that, contrary to recent denials by the outgoing French head of state, Tripoli was offered French cooperation to develop a nuclear power programme, along with sales of weapons and security systems. The document, exclusively revealed here by Mediapart, also contains an exchange between the two leaders to decide with which Libyan official Sarkozy could discuss what he described as “delicate questions”. Gaddafi confirmed Sarkozy’s suggestion that this should be Bashir Saleh, head of the Libyan African Portfolio sovereign wealth investment fund who is named in a separate document published by Mediapart as the paymaster for the secret Libyan funding of Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.

  11 May 2012

  by Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske