The news is once again shaking the French political world with the summons of Nicolas Sarkozy to justice for an indictment in the case of the retraction of Ziad Takieddine. This case, which dates back to the 2007 presidential campaign, highlights suspicions of Libyan financing.
According to information disclosed by Liberation and confirmed by sources close to the case, Nicolas Sarkozy is summoned by a Parisian judge to be heard in the context of this case. Initially scheduled these days, the interrogation has been postponed and should be held in October.
The former President of the French Republic had already been interviewed by OCLCIFF financial investigators last June, for twelve hours. He then strongly denied any involvement in the charges against him. However, justice suspects him of having benefited from maneuvers undertaken by several people to exonerate him.
At least eight protagonists, including the queen of the paparazzi Mimi Marchand, are suspected of having participated in an operation aimed at obtaining the retraction of Ziad Takieddine against remuneration. This maneuver would also have had the objective of proving that the Libyan document published by Mediapart in 2012, evoking financing of 50 million euros, was a forgery. In addition, she would have sought to obtain the release of a son of Gaddafi detained in Lebanon.
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office expanded the investigation last March by including facts of “concealment of witness tampering”, which could implicate Nicolas Sarkozy in the role played by certain protagonists.
This case has its origins in the spectacular retraction of Ziad Takieddine, who accused Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012 of having benefited from Libyan funding during his 2007 presidential campaign. In November 2020, he declared on BFMTV and Paris Match that his accusations were false, to finally reconsider his remarks two months later.
Investigators have calculated that the operation to obtain the retraction of Ziad Takieddine would have cost at least 608,000 euros.
This new convocation of Nicolas Sarkozy in a legal case is likely to have repercussions on the French political scene. To be followed closely.