Billionaire French businessman Vincent Bolloré, who lent his yacht to President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy for a two-day stay in Malta earlier during the week, rejected accusations that his close relationship with the future president could lead to special favors for his companies, reported
Reuters.
After Sunday's election, Mr Sarkozy flew to Malta with his family on a private jet and boarded a 60-meter luxury cruiser belonging to Vincent Bolloré, the largest shareholder in advertising group Havas who also has stakes in a web of financial and industrial firms. Mr Bollore insisted he did not expect his group to win favorable treatment in exchange for the free trip. "Just because you are friends with somebody, it doesn't mean there are no ethics in the relationship," he said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper published on Friday.
While Mr Bollore has said stressed that his group had no commercial ties with the French state, Le Monde newspaper cited official documents showing that his firms had several state contracts, including one for the delivery of diplomatic documents. Mr Sarkozy's stay on 60-metre yacht was deemed as "needlessly ostentatious luxury" by Jean-Louis Bourlanges, a European deputy of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). The vessel costs Lm 85,858 (€200,000) a week to hire reported France's LCI television.
Mr Sarkozy arrived in Malta on a private jet on Monday at around 1445CET and boarded the yacht at around 1530CET with his wife Cecilia and 10-year-old son Louis. He left Malta on Wednesday night at around 2000CEST.
