Has the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, distanced himself from Nicolas Sarkozy due to the former French president's legal troubles? Sarkozy was sentenced on Thursday, September 25, to five years in prison for "criminal conspiracy" in the trial over alleged Libyan campaign financing for his 2007 presidential bid and will soon be imprisoned. According to a source close to the Qatari embassy, "Sarkozy was mainly close to the former Emir Hamad [1995-2013]. The current emir does not even have Sarkozy's phone number; he has broken with certain clientelist practices and believes Sarkozy treated Qatar too much like a cash cow for his personal interests."

Nevertheless, the ties between Sarkozy and Qatar have become of great interest to the French judiciary. Since 2019, when the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) opened an official investigation, notably for corruption, into the controversial December 2, 2010, decision to award the 2022 FIFA World Cup to the Gulf emirate, investigating judges have sought to determine what benefits Sarkozy may have received, beyond the commercial opportunities (in arms, construction, transportation, etc.) for France expected at the time by the Elysée in exchange for his support for Doha's bid.

You have 81.24% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.