France's Mr Africa spills the beans on secret cash

It was January 1998 and Robert Bourgi was waiting to spot the Gabonese president Omar Bongo, successful an antechamber astatine his seaside palace successful Libreville.

He was determination to cod funds for the approaching French statesmanlike predetermination connected behalf of the centre-right Gaullist campaigner Jacques Chirac, who was politician of Paris astatine the time.

Who should past beryllium ushered into the aforesaid antechamber but Roland Dumas, erstwhile French overseas curate and right-hand antheral of ruling Socialist President François Mitterrand, Chirac’s arch-rival.

“Good day, Bourgi,” said Dumas. “I judge we are present for the aforesaid purpose.”

Claiming seniority, Dumas went into Bongo’s bureau first. Emerging a abbreviated clip later, helium said to Bourgi: “Don’t worry, there’s inactive a spot left!”

Recounted successful Bourgi’s newly-published memoirs They cognize that I cognize it each - My beingness successful Françafrique, the anecdote says everything astir the money-grabbing and communal dependence that for truthful agelong linked French and African politics.

For 4 decades Robert Bourgi was astatine the centre of it all.

Born successful Senegal successful 1945 to Lebanese Shiite parents, helium roseate to go a confidant of a procreation of African leaders – from Omar Bongo successful Gabon to Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso.

And successful Paris, helium inherited the mantle of the legendary Jacques Foccart – the Gaullist who oversaw the post-colonial Françafrique system, with its arrangements of power and protection, markets, materials, muscle… and money.

From the aboriginal years aft World War Two – during which it had been a centre of activism successful favour of France’s post-war person Charles de Gaulle - Africa and its erstwhile French colonies had been a root of financing for each French governmental parties. By the 1980s, erstwhile Bourgi came onto the scene, it was routine.

Bourgi says that helium himself ne'er imported the bags of cash.

“The process was simple. When determination was an predetermination approaching, Chirac made it wide that I should present a connection successful assorted African capitals,” helium said successful an interrogation successful Le Figaro paper this week.

“The [African] heads of authorities past sent an emissary to my bureau successful Paris with a ample sum. Several cardinal successful francs oregon dollars.”

In each of the 1995 and 2002 statesmanlike elections – some won by Chirac – helium says astir $10m (£7.5m) was fixed by African leaders.

The 2002 contention provided Bourgi with different colourful story, erstwhile a typical of Burkinabe person Blaise Compaoré arrived successful Paris with a ample sum of wealth concealed successful djembe drums.

According to Bourgi, helium accompanied the envoy to the Elysée Palace, wherever they were greeted by Chirac. They opened the sealed drums utilizing a brace of scissors, upon which a rainfall of banknotes fell out.

“Typical Blaise,” Bourgi quotes Chirac arsenic saying. “He’s sent america tiny denominations.” The wealth was seemingly each successful fives and tens.

Handling the currency was not ever easy. Remembering a large donation to Chirac from different African leader, Bourgi says: “The wealth arrived successful Puma sports bags. I wanted to enactment the wads successful insubstantial truthful I went into my daughter’s country and took down 1 of her posters, and wrapped the wealth successful that.”

The strategy was truthful wide that it gave emergence to a verb cadeauter – from the French cadeau, meaning a present.

When Bourgi’s allegations archetypal surfaced successful 2011 they were denied by officials successful Burkina Faso and elsewhere, though a erstwhile statesmanlike advisor successful Ivory Coast conceded they were “historical practice”.

Jacques Chirac and his past main of unit Dominique de Villepin besides strenuously denied Bourgi’s claims.

A preliminary probe was opened but aboriginal dropped without further action, due to the fact that the payments were considered excessively agelong ago.

For African leaders astatine the time, says Bourgi, it was normal, and they did it among themselves. Giving ample sums of wealth was a mode of establishing spot and support.

But successful a changing satellite it was unsustainable and Bourgi says helium grew disillusioned. Nicolas Sarkozy came to powerfulness successful 2007 vowing not to instrumentality a azygous franc from Africa, and Bourgi says helium kept to his word.

Sarkozy has since been placed nether probe for allegedly taking run funds from Libyan person Muammar Gaddafi - which helium denies. Bourgi, a Sarkozy loyalist, says helium does not judge the charges.

The erstwhile lawyer, present aged 79, besides reflects connected his alternatively antithetic relation successful different predetermination - that of Emmanuel Macron successful 2017. That was erstwhile Bourgi helped scupper the chances of the antheral who was for a clip the runaway favourite, the blimpish François Fillon.

Once adjacent to Fillon, Bourgi had go estranged: helium accused the erstwhile premier curate of being rude and stingy. So helium released to a writer the information that helium had made Fillon a acquisition of 2 precise costly suits.

Campaigning connected a connection of probity, Fillon ne'er recovered. Later helium was convicted of giving a fake parliamentary occupation to his British wife.

But Africa is Bourgi’s love.

He reflects that though the corruption astatine the bosom of Françafrique was wrong, the strategy astatine the clip brought stability, and a enslaved - often idiosyncratic - betwixt French and African leaders.

Today, that is gone.

France has a worsening representation successful its erstwhile colonies, and its power is connected the wane. Witness the caller retreat from its erstwhile service bases successful Mali and Niger.

“I enactment with sadness the disintegration of French relations with the continent,” Bourgi says.

“But it is excessively casual to enactment each the blasted connected Françafrique… Africa has globalised. France has been incapable to accommodate to this caller fact. And it keeps making the aforesaid mistake: arrogance.”