‘Sarko leaks’ scandal embarrasses French right prior to municipal elections

Eighteen days before municipal elections the French right hopes to win, the "Sarko leaks" scandal broke yesterday with excerpts from recordings made secretly during Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007-2012 presidency published by investigative newspaper Le Canard E nchaîné and the Atlantico website.

The recordings were made by Patrick Buisson, who hid a small recorder in his suit pocket during meetings with the president and his advisers.

Mr Buisson, who has often been called Sarkozy’s “eminence grise”, was a sympathiser of the OAS, the extremist group that fought against independence for Algeria. He believes there is no such thing as the extreme right, and that the centre-right UMP, the former president’s party, can win over the National Front’s voters by fighting immigration and exalting national identity.

Threat to sue
Mr Buisson threatened to sue Le Point magazine last month when it reported he had secretly recorded hundreds of hours of conversations at the Élysée Palace. He has continued to advise Mr Sarkozy since he left office, and categorically denied the report to Sarkozy.

When confronted with publication of transcripts from two meetings about a cabinet reshuffle in February 2011, Mr Buisson’s lawyer claimed his client recorded the sessions to help him prepare for later meetings, because it wasn’t practical for him to take notes, and that some of the recordings were subsequently stolen from him.

The main revelation of the “Sarko leaks” so far is the utter contempt with which Mr Buisson regarded his boss and some cabinet ministers. When out of hearing range, he refers to Sarkozy as “the short one” or “the dwarf” and criticises his inability to take decisions. In Sarkozy’s presence he heaps praise on the president, telling him “I found you very presidential” moments after Sarkozy recorded a speech.

The tapes also make clear the huge influence wielded by Mr Buisson, who never figured on any official list of Élysée staff. When the president asked if any of his close advisers had qualms about sacking the interior minister Brice Hortefeux, Buisson replied: “On immigration, Brice is inhibited. Part of our electorate is showing a certain impatience.”

Mr Buisson was last year placed under investigation regarding more than €3.3 million paid to his company, Publifact, for opinion polls for the Élysée over five years. The contracts were awarded without competitive bidding.

Outrage
The "Sarko leaks" have provoked outrage on the right, starting with Mr Sarkozy. Henri Guaino, who was Sarkozy's speechwriter, said the former president feels "anger, that he has been betrayed".

“Because he chose [Buisson], he thought they were bound, if not by friendship, at least by confidence . . . We are all living this event as a kind of rape.”

Roselyne Bachelot, one of several cabinet ministers Mr Buisson described as “super zeros” in the tapes, expressed her “disgust” at the “Mafia-like relations where everyone distrusts everyone else, where they keep files on each other”.

Mr Sarkozy would like to reconquer the French presidency in 2017. But the “Sarko leaks” now hang over him like a sword of Damocles. No one knows what further excerpts may reveal, or when.