Former French President allegedly accepted illegal campaign funding from Gaddafi

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, right, leaves the police station where he was held, in Nanterre. Photo / AP

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was handed preliminary charges today over allegations he accepted millions of euros in illegal campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A judicial official told AP that investigative judges overseeing the probe gave the ex-President charges of illegally funding his 2007 winning campaign, passive corruption and receiving money from Libyan embezzlement.

The charges came after Sarkozy was detained for two days of questioning by anti-corruption police at a station in Nanterre, northwest of the French capital.

Sarkozy, 63, who was France's President from 2007-12, has repeatedly and vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

An investigation involving funding for his winning 2007 presidential campaign first was launched in 2013.

Investigators are examining claims that Gaddafi's regime secretly gave the politician €50 million overall for his campaign.

The sum would be more than double the legal campaign funding limit at the time — €21m. In addition, the alleged payments would violate French rules against foreign financing and requiring that the source of campaign funds be declared.

His lawyer, Thierry Herzog, did not respond to requests for comment.

Sarkozy's former top aide, the ex-minister Brice Hortefeux, was also questioned, but not detained.

He said on Twitter that the details he gave investigators "should help put an end to a series of mistakes and lies."

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, 63, arrived just before 8am at the bureau of officers specialising in corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, an AFP journalist said https://t.co/0k2ptP807I

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 21, 2018

The investigation got a boost when French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told the online investigative site Mediapart in 2016 that he delivered suitcases from Libya containing €5m in cash to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff, Claude Gueant.

Takieddine repeated his allegations during a live interview with France's BFM TV today. He claimed he personally handed a suitcase containing €2m in cash to Sarkozy at the then-candidate's apartment and another suitcase with €1.5m to Sarkozy and a close aide at the French Interior Ministry. Sarkozy was interior minister at the time.

Takieddine alleged he gave a third suitcase with €1.5m in cash to the aide alone. He said the money was not meant to finance Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007, but to honour contracts between France and Libya.

"He's a real liar," Takieddine said of Sarkozy.

-AP