Overview
- De Villepin said Sunday on France Inter that taking two Napoléon statuettes as foreign minister was an error.
- His aides say the pieces were turned over to the Foreign Ministry on Monday.
- Lobbyist Robert Bourgi told France 2 on Thursday that he brokered the gifts, naming Blaise Compaoré and Italian businessman Gian Angelo Perrucci as the payers.
- Bourgi valued the statuettes at €75,000 and €50,000, figures that de Villepin’s entourage says are four to five times too high.
- De Villepin denied any quid pro quo and framed the disclosure as an attack tied to Bourgi’s long friendship with Nicolas Sarkozy, which Bourgi says did not involve Sarkozy.