Nicolas Sarkozy, who continues to plead his innocence at the trial of the case on Libyan funding, and his lawyers have decided to rely on new elements sent anonymously to strengthen his defense.
A new element is added to the file on the Libyan funding case and it could change the course of the trial. Monday, February 17, seven weeks after the start of the trial and while the last audiences did not go in the direction of Nicolas Sarkozy, his lawyer Mᵉ Christophe Ingrain shared a recording which, according to him, could prove the innocence of The former president accused of “illegal campaign funding”, “concealment of embezzlement of public funds”, “passive corruption” and “association of criminals”. The politician faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros in this case.
The registration would have been sent to Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyer more than less than less via Proton messaging, in a encrypted email. If this shipment is not the first of its kind, he is the first to “provide a concrete element”, assured the council before the Paris Criminal Court. The sound extract has not been released, it must first be authenticated by an expert to be paid to the file. Nicolas Sarkozy’s advice himself warned that “this message as the recording that is attached can be manipulation”.
The lawyer therefore engaged in an audio description: Muammar Gaddafi asked Nicolas Sarkozy who has just been elected President of the French Republic, that is, after May 2007, to support the appointment of a representative of the Africa at the UN Security Council. The discussion never mentions Libyan funding according to this description, so how can it innocent the former head of state? By a series of deductions, questionable, advanced by the lawyer.
Mᵉ Christophe Ingrain explained in court that this new element, always on condition of being verified, is proof that Muammar Gaddafi recorded all his conversations, as supposed, and that the cassettes of the exchanges were not all destroyed under the Bombings, as dreaded. Conclusion of the lawyer: The absence of registration on Libyan funding makes it possible to say that financial transactions “simply do not exist”.
A “false” among the convictions?
The anonymous email received by the defense of Nicolas Sarkozy, and in which the registration was attached, would also be a state of the counterfeiting of certain evidence in conviction in this case. The anonymous correspondent alleges that “the famous note from Mediapart is a false” reports the council. The note in question is the document dated 2006 and signed by Moussa Koussa, former head of the external intelligence services of Libya, which gave its green light to funding up to 50 million euros in the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. This Mediapart Revelation had kicked off the case. The author of the message adds to have “irrefutable written evidence” of what he is advancing and says he knows the name of the counterfeiter, still according to Mᵉ Christophe Ungrain who did not give more details.
In 2012, during the publication by Médiapart of the said note, the newspaper supported the authenticity of the document which he described as “official”, resulting from the “archives of the secret services” and comprising the header and the green coat of arms of Jamahiriy. Several testimonies had accompanied the publication of the document.
A timing that questions
The registration and other information provided by the author of the message addressed to the defense of Nicolas Sarkozy must be verified by an expert during an examination requested by the president of the Paris Criminal Court. Its content, if authenticated, could change the course of the case, but it also raises questions in the absence of direct evidence reported by the council. The defense of Mᵉ Christophe Ungrain has so far been based on deductions and accusations. The lawyer himself raised the possibility that these elements relay from false information.
The moment at which these new elements were revealed also questions: they are cited by the defense when the position of Nicolas Sarkozy becomes difficult and when they were already available to lawyers for weeks. Mᵉ Christophe Ungrain justified this period by the need to defend Nicolas Sarkozy against the charges held against him and the time of the reflection necessary for the exploitation of the new elements, in particular because of the doubt that remains on their veracity. The council said it has hesitated a lot before using the message and recording.