Cash, gifts and African networks… Shocking accusations against Dominique de Villepin

Robert Bourgi accuses the former Prime Minister of having knowledge of expensive gifts and clandestine exchanges between the Élysée Palace and certain African leaders. The former intermediary claims he wants to "ease his conscience," while acknowledging that he is trying to thwart Bourgi's ambitions for 2027.

Robert Bourgi reopens the wounds of Françafrique and publicly settles his scores with Dominique de Villepin. In an interview with Le Parisien this Saturday, the former unofficial advisor to the Élysée Palace under Jacques Chirac implicated the former Prime Minister, accusing him of having been informed of expensive gifts and of being involved, according to him, in clandestine networks linking several African leaders to Paris. The Franco-Lebanese businessman, born in Dakar, said he wanted to "ease his conscience," while also admitting he was trying to thwart a potential presidential candidacy by the former Prime Minister in 2027.

The affair was revived by the investigative program "Complément d'enquête," broadcast on April 30 on France 2. Robert Bourgi claimed to have given Dominique de Villepin two statuettes of Napoleon in 2002 and 2003. One was allegedly a gift from former Burkinabe president Blaise Compaoré for €75,000, the other from an Italian industrialist for €50,000. Dominique de Villepin acknowledged owning the objects but claimed not to have known their precise origin and now downplays their value. Bourgi disputes this version: "Dominique cannot deny the origin of these objects."

"Dominique de Villepin's Achilles' heel is money, luxury, and comfort."

Robert Bourgi also claimed that, between 1997 and 2005, he was responsible for managing "gestures of friendship" from African heads of state toward Jacques Chirac. He mentioned "a dozen, maybe fifteen" cash payments, for a total estimated at around 50 million euros. According to him, Dominique de Villepin, then Secretary General of the Élysée Palace and later Minister of Foreign Affairs, was his direct contact. "Dominique de Villepin's Achilles' heel is money, luxury, and affluence," he asserted.

He also revisited an episode already recounted in his book, *They Know I Know Everything*: the alleged delivery, in November 2001, of $3 million concealed inside four djembes from Burkina Faso. He claimed that Dominique de Villepin went down to the courtyard of the Élysée Palace to help transport the instruments to his office. These alleged events are now beyond the statute of limitations and no convictions were ever filed.

Dominique de Villepin's entourage denounced a political maneuver. When questioned by Le Parisien, his close associates mentioned the influence of Nicolas Sarkozy, whose long-standing and loyal mouthpiece, according to them, was Robert Bourgi, accustomed to shifting narratives and underhanded tactics. They recalled that a preliminary investigation opened in 2011 into possible secret transactions between the Élysée Palace and African countries had been closed without further action. Robert Bourgi rejected any suggestion of manipulation: "I am not being manipulated, neither by Nicolas nor by anyone else. I am settling my own scores."