Leaked document attests Sarkozy's campaign funding scandal

CAIRO – 21 March 2018: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was taken into police custody pending investigation over allegations of receiving millions of euros in an illegal election campaign funding from late Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

A document written in Arabic and signed by Col Gaddafi’s intelligence chief Moussa Koussa refers to an agreement to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to €50 million.

Such a sum would be more than double the legal campaign funding limit, which was €21 million at the time, the Guardian reported.

As French investigators have finished questioning Sarkozy, judges are now considering whether to open a formal investigation into allegations.

It remains unknown whether the 63-year-old had been cleared of suspicion or still faced possible charges.

Sarkozy has repeatedly denied the allegations, dismissing the claims as “grotesque”.

According to the leaked document, published by French news website Mediapart in 2012, Koussa transferred the said amount to Sarkozy based on orders from the Liaison Office of the Libyan People's General Committee.

The leaked document, published by French website Mediapart in 2012

The document included that a meeting, held on 6 October 2006, was attended by Brice Hortefeux, who served as Sarkozy’s interior minister and Franco-Lebanese businessman, Ziad Takieddine.

Sarkozy has already been ordered to stand trial in a separate matter concerning financing of his failed re-election campaign in 2012, when he was defeated by François Hollande.

Previously, Koussa said that the agreement was made following a meeting between the Director of the Libyan Intelligence Directorate and the head of Libya Africa Investment Portfolio.