Two Sarkozy friends detained in ‘Karachi kickbacks affair’

Bazaire,Gaubart nabbed after Princess Helene reveals their involvement in French arms sale deal.

Two of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s close friends have been detained for investigations into whether legal commissions from French arms sales to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were illegally kicked back to fund the 1994-5 presidential campaign of Edouard Balladur.

One of the two men detained for investigation into the so called Karachi affair includes Nicolas Bazire,who was Sarkozy’s witness at his wedding to Carla Bruni in 2008,as well as Balladur’s then-cabinet chief and presidential campaign manager.

The other,Thierry Gaubert,was Sarkozy’s head of communication when he was mayor of Neuilly,then his cabinet chief when he was budget and communication minister,the Telegraph reports.

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They were detained after Gaubert’s ex-wife,Princess Helene of Yugoslavia,revealed that he had brought back briefcases stuffed with cash in the mid-1990s,and handed them over to Bazire. The princess reportedly told the court that Gaubert was accompanied on his trips to Switzerland by Ziad Takieddine,a middleman in huge arms deals.

The Franco-Lebanese businessman was recently placed under investigation for receiving multi-million pound commissions in French arms contracts with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It is alleged part of the commissions were kicked back to French politicians,notably Balladur.

Takieddine has denied receiving any commissions from the submarine sales,but a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the affair estimates he received 33 million euros for the deal and was curiously imposed by the Balladur government as an intermediary at the last moment.