On November 22nd 2018 the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the state's main sovereign wealth fund, held its traditional “pre-New Year” soirée as usual in Moscow. That year the RDIF's boss, Kirill Dmitriev, had invited a noteworthy figure to address the hand-picked guests: Nicolas Sarkozy.
His presence was surprising, to say the least. In theory there was no good reason for RDIF to invite the former present of France to a simple business get-together. However, Nicolas Sarkozy used the opportunity to sing the praises of his “friend” Vladimir Putin, words which were immediately sent around the world by the Sputnik news agency, which is controlled by the Russian state.
“Russia has again become a powerful nation, that's its place, that's its historic role, that's its destiny,” he told his audience (see the video below).
“Finally, I would like to say that I have always been Vladimir Putin's friend, because he is a person with whom you can talk even when you have disagreements,” Nicolas Sarkozy added, before addressing his remarks to the RDIF's CEO. “Kirill Dmitriev, you have invited me here for the first time. I would also like to be invited next year.”
Was Nicolas Sarkozy paid by the Kremlin to sing the Russian president's praises? It is a question that arises in view of the financial transfers seen by Mediapart, which has looked at bank documents showing the activity of one of Nicolas Sarkozy's accounts in Paris.
These documents show that not long before and not long after his involvement in the Moscow soirée, Nicolas Sarkozy received a total of 300,000 euros; 200,000 euros on October 4th 2018, and an additional 100,000 euros paid on February 28th 2019. The money was paid by a mysterious company called RS Capital Limited, whose nationality is not given in the bank documents.
Enlargement : Illustration 2
By coincidence, the RDIF sovereign fund that invited the former French president has a discreet subsidiary also named RS Capital Limured, which is registered in the United Arab Emirates, one of the least transparent tax havens on the planet.
Approached by Mediapart, Nicolas Sarkozy did not respond. “There was no payment to Mr Sarkozy linked to his participation in RDIF events,” the Russian sovereign fund's communications service told Mediapart, without giving any more details. In plain terms, the sovereign fund does not deny having paid the former president, but said that he was not paid for the Moscow soirée. When asked again if it had made the payment of 300,000 euros, RDIF did not respond.
Other than the fund's subsidiary based in Abu Dhabi, Mediapart has identified two other companies bearing the name RS Capital Limited that were in business at the time of the payments.
One of them, registered in the United Kingdom, was created in April 2008, seven months before the RDIF event in Moscow. It is owned and administered by nominees, staff of the chartered accountancy firm Basra & Basra based in Southampton in southern England. Did the British company RS Capital Limited pay Nicolas Sarkozy? Is it controlled by Russia? When questioned by Mediapart, Basra & Basra did not respond.
There is a third company called RS Capital Limited, registered in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven. It is a subsidiary of the Ridge Solutions group, owned by an Angolan businessman. When questioned, Ridge Solutions did not respond.
Enlargement : Illustration 3
Nicolas Sarkozy has been on the radar of the French legal system in relation to another Russian affair, as Mediapart has revealed. In 2019, a few months after his participation in the RDIF soirée, the former French president signed a multi-year consultancy for three million euros with the Russian insurance company RESO-Garantia, which is controlled by oligarchs Sergei and Nikolai Sarkisov. France's financial crimes prosecution unit, the Parquet National Financier, has opened a preliminary probe into alleged “influence peddling” over this contract; that investigation is ongoing. Nicolas Sarkozy declined to comment on the nature of his work for the two oligarchs, but his spokesperson said that his work there had come to an end in the autumn of 2021.
After his departure from the Élysée in 2012, the former French president was open about his closeness to Vladimir Putin, whom he has met several times. Indeed, in October 2015 he visited the Russian president's personal residence, a year after Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
By the end of 2018, at the time that Nicolas Sarkozy was singing Putin's praises in Moscow, the Russian leader has already become the autocrat who had annexed Crimea, who supported separatists in Donbas, who was suspected of eliminating opponents such as Boris Nemstov – who was shot dead a few yards from the Kremlin – and who had sent his aircraft to destroy Aleppo in Syria, killing thousands of civilians.
On January 16th 2020 the former head of state went to Moscow again, this time to take part in the annual economic Gaidar Forum, organised by bodies linked to the Russian state. An official communiqué summed up the proceedings: “Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised Russia's achievements, stressing that the country has again become a superpower thanks to the efforts of President Vladimir Putin.”
Enlargement : Illustration 4
More embarrassing still, during that same stay in Moscow in January 2020 Nicolas Sarkozy visited the private home of oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, as Mediapart revealed last year. By coincidence, at the time Kerimov was in the process of negotiating a plea bargain with the chief prosecutor in the southern French city of Nice in order to bring to a close part of a judicial investigation that had been launched over alleged “complicity in tax fraud” concerning the purchase of several luxury villas on the Côte d’Azur.
According to an informed source, Kerimov hoped that by inviting Nicolas Sarkozy he would benefit from his connections to ensure that the billionaire would be treated well by the French justice system. When approached by Mediapart about this issue, the former head of state did not respond. Kerimov's lawyer confirmed that the oligarch had “met Mr Sarkozy in Moscow” but added that “at no time were the French criminal proceedings discussed between them”.
-------------------------
- The original French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter
-------------------------
If you have information of public interest you would like to pass on to Mediapart for investigation you can contact us at this email address: enquete@mediapart.fr. If you wish to send us documents for our scrutiny via our highly secure platform SecureDrop please go to this page.
-------------------------