And suddenly, Claude Guéant disappeared. His coat under his arm, satchel in hand, the former chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, himself subsequently appointed minister and then secretary general of the Elysée under the same Sarkozy, took advantage of the suspension of audience to take their cliques and clacks. This Thursday, January 16, at 6:45 p.m., the defendant, who appears at the trial of the supposed Libyan financing of his former boss's campaign in 2007, is only a shadow of himself. He spent nearly five hours at the bar of the court, seated, as the president suggested, bombarded with questions from the judges and the three representatives of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office. It's the day before his 80th birthday.
“Claude Guéant suffers from serious illnesses, but has insisted on being present since the opening of the debates”reported his lawyer after the resumption. The hearing had seen over the hours, the former key man at the Elysée sink, gently lured to the bottom by the simple and effective questions of the president, Nathalie Gavarino, then forcefully reprimanded by the prosecutors. It was the conditions of a trip to Colonel Gaddafi's Libya in September 2005, and a meal in a restaurant near Tripoli, which led to his spending that afternoon on the grill, under the eyes of of Nicolas Sarkozy and Brice Hortefeux, the former Minister of Local Authorities in 2005.
Dinner with the Devil
Nothing is going well in this mysterious trip, which the prosecution suspects was used to prepare the financing of candidate Sarkozy's future campaign at the Elysée, two years later. The senior official took the plane without being accompanied by an advisor or even a security officer in this country which was not then reintegrated into the concert of nations. And above all, a meeting raises all the questions: a dinner with the devil, the Guide's brother-in-law, Abdallah Senoussi, a man sentenced in absentia by the Paris special assize court to life imprisonment for his role in the The attack which left 170 dead, including 54 French, in September 1989, when UTA's DC-10 plane exploded over Niger.
The court first wants to understand how this trip was organized, which Claude Guéant presents as necessary for Nicolas Sarkozy's visit a few weeks later. “Is it usual for the chief of staff to make this kind of trip”questions the president. The senior official concedes, as chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior, “this is the only journey that [qu’il a] made as a precursor”. To justify the interest of such a move, Guéant ensures that “Libya was a possible partner of great effectiveness against terrorism and illegal immigration”. And given his CV, the former director of the national police, was the “better informed” on these subjects.
A first particularity questions the president of the court, why did Claude Guéant go to Libya alone? The national financial prosecutor Quentin Dandoy points out to the defendant that a note from the Franco-Lebanese intermediary and businessman Ziad Takieddine, dated September 22, precisely recommended that “CG” – the initials of the chief of staff – there go as discreetly as possible, without company. Claude Guéant, whose voice becomes less and less audible over the course of the questions, says that this document is only a “memory aid” of the sulphurous Franco-Lebanese intermediate. Implied, this is not of much value.
“I had no reason to suspect the trap”
Claude Guéant continues to give the lie, but we don't understand. Why did Takieddine, now on the run in Lebanon since his conviction by the Paris judicial court in another case, who is not represented at the hearing, participate in the organization of the famous trip? The intermediary takes the Guéant on a spree through the streets of Tripoli for a dinner “trap”the former minister said today in court. He assures us, repeats it, he did not know that he was going to find himself face to face with Abdallah Senoussi, a terrorist leader wanted by the French justice system. President Gavarino questions him to understand the improbable.
“- It is [Ziad Takieddine] who calls you, saying “do you want to meet someone important”, doesn’t he tell you more?
– No, replies Claude Guéant
– You don't ask him the question?
– I had no reason to suspect the trap
– In the car, you don't ask him the question? The journey takes between 10 and 30 minutes…
– I didn't do it.”
The chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior claims to not even know the face of the guest waiting for him at the restaurant. But, now asks prosecutor Quentin Dandoy, why did he not get up when he discovered Ziad Takieddine's so-called surprise? “I think that if I had left, the Libyans would have taken it very badly”tries Claude Guéant. An insufficient response for the prosecution.
“- But finally Mr. Guéant, it was perhaps up to the Libyans to feel uncomfortable, and up to France to say that it is unacceptable, retorts astonished the representative of the public prosecutor
– I believe that you are not prepared for the exercise of diplomacy, said Claude Guéant with a mocking air.
– When did you discuss with him the 54 of our compatriots who died?
– I did not mention this subject
– Didn't you tell yourself that you could bring up this subject at some point between the mezzes and the rice pudding?
– You are right, I did not mention the terrible disappearance of our compatriots.”
During the investigation, Guéant had mentioned the exchange with Senoussi as a simple “chatter”. He claims not to really remember if, between the “mezzes and rice pudding”, A central point was addressed: the desire of the Libyans to see the international arrest warrant against Senoussi disappear, described as a subject «d’obsession» for Gaddafi. One of the counterparts of the corruptive pact, according to the prosecution's thesis, which the defendants try to deny at all costs. When the hearing resumes on Monday, Claude Guéant must be questioned by the relatives of the victims of the DC10 plane, who have become civil parties at the hearing.
