There is no doubt that close friends of Prophet (s.a.) had special privileges. They were hearing verses from the Prophet himself, they were seeing his miracles, they were cultured by his valuable words and they were gaining practical pattern from his holiness.
According to these reasons great people had been cultured among them whom world of Islam is proud of them, but here the point is, were all of Sahaba (close friends of Prophet (s.a.)) believer, righteous, truthful and impartial without an exception or maybe there were unrighteous people among them?