Where is the investigation into Ziad Takieddine’s false retraction?

In 2020, the intermediary withdrew his testimony accusing Nicolas Sarkozy of having financed his 2007 presidential campaign with Libyan funds. The justice system is investigating this turnaround, made for money according to Ziad Takieddine.

After Nicolas Sarkozy in October, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was indicted in turn on Tuesday, July 9, in the investigation into the retraction of the intermediary Ziad Takieddine, franceinfo learned from a judicial source. In 2020, the Franco-Lebanese businessman, who accused Nicolas Sarkozy of having financed his 2007 presidential campaign with funds from the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, returned to his testimony, in an interview with BFMTV and Paris Matchthen in a deposition transmitted to the French magistrates.

A turnaround in exchange for which he had been offered “millions of euros”declared Ziad Takieddine, who finally returned to his initial testimony, in the program “Complément d’enquête” on France 2 in April. Asked about the possibility of Nicolas Sarkozy or his entourage being involved in this deal, he replied “Yes of course”.

In the meantime, a judicial investigation was opened in May 2021 into the conditions of preparation of the interview in which the intermediary carried out this false about-face, with suspicions of witness tampering in mind. Franceinfo takes stock of the progress of this investigation, which has earned the singer and wife of the former president an indictment.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is indicted

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has already been questioned twice by investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses, as a witness in June 2023, then as a suspect in early May. According to information from AFP and Mediapart, she is suspected of having taken a hidden telephone line that the Sarkozy couple allegedly used to receive messages from the boss of the paparazzi agency Bestimage, Michèle Marchand, known as “Mimi”, on the organization of the interview with Ziad Takieddine. The popess of the celebrity press was behind the scenes to get the “scoop” of this retraction, as reported by the Radio France Investigation Unit.

Following an interrogation before two financial investigating judges, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was indicted on Tuesday for “concealment of witness subornation” and “participation in a criminal association with a view to committing the offence of fraud in court as part of an organised gang”. The singer was, however, placed under the more favourable status of assisted witness with regard to suspicions of criminal association with a view to corrupting foreign judicial personnel in Lebanon, another aspect of the investigation into Libyan funding of the 2007 campaign.

This decision, “pronounced in the same terms as that concerning her husband (…), is only the logical procedural consequence and is not further founded, either legally or factually”reacted Paul Mallet and Benoît Martinez, the lawyers of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who according to them is “determined to assert its rights and challenge this unfounded decision.”

A current request from Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted in October for the same offences as his wife. The former head of state is suspected of having approved the manoeuvres to obtain Ziad Takieddine’s retraction. Questioned by two investigating judges in October, he presented himself as wrongly implicated in this affair because of a “small gang” of “nickel-plated feet” greedy for money, reports “Complément d’enquête”.

When their client was indicted, his lawyers argued in a statement that “Justice cannot preserve giving credibility to the statements of Ziad Takieddine when they accused Nicolas Sarkozy, and conversely, consider them manipulated when they exonerate him”. And to add: “Nicolas Sarkozy is firmly determined to assert his rights, establish the truth and defend his honour.” In April, the former head of state’s lawyers filed a request to have these proceedings cancelled, then a request to have the investigation transferred.

The case of suspicions of illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign with Libyan funds is to be tried in 2025. Nicolas Sarkozy is being prosecuted for “passive corruption”, “criminal association”, “illegal financing of an electoral campaign” and “concealment of embezzlement of Libyan public funds”.

Other people are being prosecuted, including Mimi Marchand

A dozen other people are under investigation in this case. Among these suspects is Mimi Marchand, the boss of the paparazzi agency Bestimage and friend of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, indicted in June 2021 and placed under judicial supervision, in particular for “witness tampering”.

Other indictments followed, including that of the intermediary Noël Dubus, already convicted of fraud, the business leader David Layani, the advertising executive Arnaud de la Villesbrunne, former director of the Publicis agency, and the businessman Pierre Reynaud (who died in May 2023). All of these people are suspected, to varying degrees of involvement, of having worked to have Ziad Takieddine withdraw his remarks implicating the former head of state, in exchange for a counterpart.