Former French president facing possible indictment alongside wife over alleged witness tampering
The indictment comes as the latest instalment in the long-running Libya campaign financing affair
French prosecutors have called for former president Nicolas Sarkozy to face another trial over fresh accusations of witness tampering linked to the long-running Libya campaign financing affair.
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The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (Parquet National Financier) said on Tuesday that Sarkozy, his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and nine other individuals should face trial over allegations they participated in a conspiracy to persuade a suspect to retract a witness statement implicating the former president.
The decision on whether to order a trial will be made by an investigative judge.
The case centres on claims that Ziad Takieddine was pressured to withdraw statements in which he alleged he had delivered millions of euros from Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi to fund Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign.
Takieddine, who died in September, had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to five million euros in cash from Gaddafi to Sarkozy.
But in 2020, Takieddine inexplicably retracted his statement, prompting accusations that Sarkozy had tampered with the witness.
Read more: Nicolas Sarkozy convicted of illegal campaign financing in failed 2012 re-election bid
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that it was requesting the indictment of Sarkozy on charges of "criminal conspiracy to commit fraud as part of an organised gang" and "concealment of witness tampering".
His wife, former model and singer, would face only the charge of "criminal conspiracy to commit fraud as part of an organised gang".
Sarkozy was previously convicted over illegal campaign financing linked to Gaddafi and began serving a prison sentence in October.
He was released from Paris’ La Santé prison pending appeal 20 days later, following an application from his lawyers.
His appeal for that conviction is due to begin in mid-March.
The former president has consistently denied all wrongdoing. He has also been convicted in two other cases, with both rulings now final.
The French leader, who was France's president between 2007 and 2012, was convicted of hiding illegal overspending in relation to the failed re-election campaign - the case central to the appeal.
In the end, it was discovered that Sarkozy’s campaign spend came to at least €42.8million - nearly double the legal limit, prosecutors said.
The former president is the first in living memory to be imprisoned.
Nazi collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain was the only other French leader to be locked up, sentenced on treason charges in 1945.
Despite multiple legal scandals that have clouded his presidential legacy, Sarkozy remains an influential figure in right-wing politics in France and in entertainment circles by virtue of his marriage to Bruni-Sarkozy.
In December, Sarkozy released his book, Diary Of A Prisoner, where he detailed the 20 days he spent in prison - held in solitary confinement and kept strictly away from other inmates for security reasons.