Fabrice Arfi

At the very end of the campaign in 2007, it emerged that large amounts of high denomination cash were still sitting in the cupboards of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign team and campaign headquarters. These were 200 euros and 500 euro notes.

This is the documentary from the BBC World Service. Imagine you've been charged with a crime and the only witness pointing the finger at you isn't even human.

I remember thinking, are you serious? What is this thing? It's something artificial, created by a mysterious Canadian. And it's coming for all of us. A life-defining technology. Crime as we know it will never be the same. I'm like, oh my god, he's lying. From CBC's Uncover, The Expert Witness. Available now on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

I think I didn't understand something. I thought Kadhafi was really bad, he was evil. And because my French president is shaking hands with him, maybe I didn't understand something. Like, I don't understand my own story. Why is he here?

One lovely day in 2011, I received a very short email. It's from someone I don't know. And they say, I might have something about someone you're interested in.

Meidän onnistumme on, että Ziad Takidin on sellaista, mitä kutsutaan pöytäntöön. Kun hän on keskustelussa, hän kirjoittaa keskustelua. Kun hän on ollut keskustelussa, hän kirjoittaa raportin. Se on järjestelmä. Kyllä. Kun hän on kirjoittanut raportteja, hän kirjoittaa ne. Ne ovat dokumentteja, suomalaisessa ja arabisessa. Saudi-Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Libya. Se on hänen työskentelynsä.

There's his correspondence, there are holiday photos, lots of photos with very well-known politicians. There are details of his offshore companies, there are his bank accounts.

Lockerbie, in the case of Great Britain, and what's known as the DC-10 UTA bombing, in the case of France.

It's a very interesting document which backed up everything we had so far. And it showed that in 2006 Gaddafi's administration had an agreement to fund, one year later, the election campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. To the tune of 50 million euros.

Kiitos kun katsoit videon!

Immediately after the verdict, Sarkozy speaks to reporters. If they absolutely want me to sleep in prison, I will sleep in prison. But with my head held high. I am innocent. This injustice is a scandal. He says he'll appeal.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who's very tactile, he put his hand on my forearm and said, but Mr. Arfi, it's nothing personal against you. And then he said something to me, something I've been asking myself about ever since. But you know, Mr. Arfi, when you're losing, you have to admit it. You have to be a good sport. And with that, Sarkozy was off.