The scandal has cast fresh light on France's historically murky ties to African dictators, who for decades allegedly doled out dirty petrodollars to French politicians in exchange for diplomatic and military support in a set-up known as “Françafrique”. 

Robert Bourgi claimed on Sunday he personally handed millions of francs from five African leaders to Mr. Chirac when he was mayor of Paris and later president, along with Mr. Villepin, his right hand man. 

Mr. Bourgi, 66, says the money, which he variously transported in a sports bag, a poster and even a ceremonial African drum, came from Burkina Faso, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal. 

On Sunday, he estimated having lugged a total of $20 million (almost £13 million) to Mr. Chirac and Mr. Villepin between 1997 and 2005. Around half of this went into funding Mr. Chirac's successful 2002 electoral campaign, he claimed. 

Bernard Houdin, an adviser to former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, said that such payments were “a historical practice” and that “the sums mentioned are no doubt below reality”. 

Burkina Faso ejected as “grotesque” the allegations. Senegal also dismissed the claims. 

Mr. Bourgi also alleged that other former presidents benefited from such largesse, including Georges Pompidou, Valerie Giscard d'Estaing and the Socialist ex-president François Mitterrand. 

However, he insisted he never handed cash to Mr. Sarkozy. 

In an interview to Le Journal du Dimanche, Mr. Bourgi said he switched allegiance to Mr. Sarkozy – a bitter Villepin rival – in 2005, acting as unofficial “adviser”, but he insists “without the briefcases”. 

However that claim was countered by Jean-François Probst, a former Chirac aide, like Mr. Bourgi with various nebulous links to African leaders. 

“Nothing stopped with Sarkozy,” Mr. Probst claimed yesterday. To say otherwise was “not credible”. 

“Bourgi has laboured tirelessly for Sarkozy (to drum up funds) from African leaders since the 2007 presidential elections,” he claimed. 

Mr. Bourgi “rushed to Libreville (the capital of Gabon) in July 2007 and did a deal with (president) Omar Bongo who, I am told, gave him a billion CFA francs (£1.3 million)”. 

Claims Sarkozy received cash from Bourgi are also made in a book by investigative journalist Pierre Péan called The Briefcase Republic, out next week. Chirac adviser, Michel de Bonnecorse, is cited as alleging he saw Mr. Bourgi place a suitcase of cash at Mr. Sarkozy's feet when he was interior minister. The Elyse declined to comment. 

Sarkozy's aides were at pains to insist Bourgi plays no advisory role. However, several US diplomatic cables uncovered by WikiLeaks claim the pair are “friends”. 

A U.S. embassy in Paris cable dated November 19, 2009, describes Bourgi as a “presidential adviser”. It cites French foreign ministry Africa chief Stéphane Gompertz as regretting that Bourgi is “Sarkozy's friend, but that's a fact of life”.