After her husband in October, it is Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s turn. The former French first lady was indicted on Tuesday, July 9, in the investigations in Paris into the 2020 retraction of the intermediary Ziad Takieddine, who accused former President Nicolas Sarkozy of having financed his 2007 presidential campaign with Libyan funds, a judicial source indicated.
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HAS the outcome of an interrogation before two financial investigating judgesCarla Bruni-Sarkozy was indicted for ” concealment of witness tampering “, or Ziad Takieddine, and for ” participation in a criminal association with a view to committing the offence of fraud in a judgment as part of an organised gang ” The latter would be, in this case, ” mislead the magistrates who have to rule in the judicial investigation relating to suspicions of Libyan financing of (there) election campaign “, said a judicial source.
However, she was placed under the more favourable status of assisted witness for criminal conspiracy to corrupt foreign judicial personnel in Lebanon.
The singer and model ” was placed under judicial supervision (with) the ban on contacting all the protagonists of this procedure, with the exception of Mr Nicolas Sarkozy “, the judicial source said.
Contacted by AFP, his lawyers, Paul Mallet and Benoît Martinez, did not immediately respond.
In this legal case opened since spring 2021, Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted in October for receiving stolen witness tampering and criminal conspiracy with a view to preparing fraud in court as part of an organized gang.
His lawyers filed a motion in April to have the charges dismissed, then a request to have the investigation transferred.
Maneuvers to obtain a U-turn from Ziad Takieddine in November 2020
Former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy is suspected of having approved maneuvers to obtain a U-turn from Ziad Takieddine in November 2020. The latter is the main prosecution witness in the case of the financing of his presidential campaign in 2007 by Libyan funds. Judgment is scheduled for 2025.
In an interview with BFMTV and Paris-Match from the Lebanese capital Beirut, where he lives, the Franco-Lebanese intermediary declared that the former head of state had ” not touched a cent, cash or no cash ” from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
A dozen other people are being indicted for having participated, at varying times and degrees, in this operation which was mainly aimed at deceiving the French justice system.
Among these suspects is notably Michèle Marchand known as ” Mimi »: this former pope of the celebrity press was a friend of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and also became friends with the current first lady Brigitte Macron, taking care for a while of the communication of President Emmanuel Macron and the presidential couple. The intermediary Noël Dubus, already convicted of fraud, is also on the list, as is the business leader David Layani.
” It’s me who should be ” indictment, said Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni has already been heard twice by investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Fiscal Offenses (OCLCIFF), as a witness in June 2023, then as a suspect in early May.
The wife of the former head of state is suspected of having requested a secret telephone line at the end of 2019, which would have been used by the Sarkozy couple to receive messages from Mimi Marchand on the progress of the operation.
In front of investigators in May, she denied having this line and claimed to be completely unaware of Mimi Marchand’s trip to Beirut in mid-October 2020 for the interview with Ziad Takieddine. However, one of the messages seems to prove that the former First Lady had been informed in advance of Mimi Marchand’s trip.
Cornered by questions from investigators about the inconsistencies in her version of the secret phone, the singer struggled to find answers. Absolutely. I understand. But it’s not my number. ” Before adding: ” I’m trying to come up with explanations.. »
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who was a long-time friend of Mimi Marchand, described her as a person ” smart, but not necessarily in the truth ” And ” very manipulative ” She said she felt ” stupidly naive ” And ” responsible for the indictment ” from her husband. ” It’s me who should (L)‘be ” she said, introducing herself as ” only contact » of her husband with Mimi Marchand. According to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the latter would have « used the name of (her) husband and the (his) (…) to give himself weight with his peers “.
This is the theory that the former president had put forward before two investigating judges during his interrogation in October. He had presented himself as wrongly implicated in this affair because of a ” small band ” of ” nickel plated feet » greedy for money.