Sarkozy held in Libya financing investigation

FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy was detained for questioning yesterday over allegations that late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi financed his 2007 election campaign, using suitcases stuffed with cash, a source close to the inquiry said.

Sarkozy, 63, was taken into police custody early yesterday and was being questioned by officers specialising in corruption, money laundering and tax evasion at their office in the western Parisian suburb of Nanterre.

He had until now refused to respond to a summons for questioning in France’s most explosive political financing scandal, one of several legal probes that have dogged him since he left office after one term in 2012.

A source said Brice Hortefeux, a close ally who served as a senior minister during Sarkozy’s presidency, was also questioned yesterday.

Since 2013, investigating magistrates have been probing media reports, as well as statements by Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, that claimed funds were provided for Sarkozy’s first tilt at the presidency.

“Sarkozy must first give back the money he took from Libya to finance his electoral campaign,” Seif told the Euronews network in 2011 as Natobacked forces were driving his father out of power.

Sarkozy has dismissed the allegations as the rantings of vindictive Libyan regime members who were furious over France’s military intervention there that helped end Gaddafi’s 41-year rule and led to his death.

He has also sued investigative news site Mediapart, which has driven coverage of the Libyan allegations since 2012 when it published a document allegedly signed by Libya’s intelligence chief showing that Gaddafi had agreed to fund Sarkozy to the tune of ß50-million (R732.6-million).

The case drew heightened scrutiny in 2016 when Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine admitted to delivering three cash-stuffed suitcases from Gaddafi in 2006 and 2007 as contributions to Sarkozy’s campaign.

Sarkozy has called the businessman a liar who had been convicted countless times for defamation.

The legal investigation is also looking at a ß500 000 (R7.3-million) foreign cash transfer to Sarkozy ally Claude Gueant, and the sale of a luxury villa in 2009 in the south of France to a Libyan investment fund for an allegedly inflated price.

Seven months after his 2007 victory, Sarkozy invited Gaddafi to Paris and clinched major arms and nuclear energy sales to Libya, which has since descended into civil war. – AFP