The former head of state was, at the time of his visit, Minister of the Interior. He is suspected of having at that time mentioned financing his campaign for the 2007 presidential election. Accusations that he described as “grotesque” at the hearing on Monday.
The video is paused. The France 2 report, broadcast on the courtroom screen, freezes. In the image, we see Nicolas Sarkozy sitting in a cream-colored leather armchair, hands on his knees and head slightly tilted. It was October 6, 2005, and at the time he was Minister of the Interior, visiting Tripoli, Libya, to speak with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The meeting is organized in a tent, with a delegation, including the official interpreter of France, who appears to the right of Nicolas Sarkozy. Almost twenty years later, the former minister, who has since become head of state, scans the screen attentively, Monday January 20. Sent to court for suspicion of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign, he was ordered to explain this trip to the Paris Criminal Court.
“Did you, at any point, in the tent, mention a request for financing?” asked the president of the court, after the broadcast of the report. “Madam, it is painful for me to answer such a question,” sighs Nicolas Sarkozy, who nevertheless announces that he wants to develop his argument. Because this first meeting between Muammar Gaddafi and Nicolas Sarkozy is crucial in this matter: according to the prosecution, it was during this visit that the “a pact of corruption” for financing the presidential campaign. “Grotesque”, sweeps away Nicolas Sarkozy, who shrugs his shoulders and waves his hands.
“I didn’t have the idea of this trip to Libya, it’s an invitation”he affirms straight away. “Should a Minister of the Interior travel? We cannot only manage migratory flows by staying within the borders”, Nicolas Sarkozy defends himself, asking both questions and answers. “I wrote to my counterpart Minister of the Interior to announce to him that I agreed to come, to set the date and that there would be a preparatory visit by Mr. Guéant, which was the subject of 'an official letter. This is the conditions under which I was led to go to Libya in 2005.explains the defendant. Nicolas Sarkozy claims to have arrived at 1 p.m. in Tripoli and left the same evening.
In the meantime, he went to this famous tent to meet Muammar Gaddafi. “It was difficult to hear and we were 2 meters or 2.50 meters away”he describes, with supporting photo, explaining that he has never been right next to the “guide” Libyan, nor one-on-one. “There was a dinner to break the fast [pour le ramadan]we left before the sweets and we were on the plane at 9 p.m.”, he explains. “I still have a brain! It's not my idea to go there [en Libye]. I've never been there, I have an official interpreter and I'm going to ask her to pay me 30, 40, 50 million? This is completely insane!”exclaims the former President of the Republic.
-While Ziad Takieddine, also referred to the Paris criminal court, is suspected of having put Claude Guéant in contact with high Libyan dignitaries to promote “the corruption pact”, Nicolas Sarkozy claims that on October 6, 2005, the businessman was not present. “There were journalists. No one, no one, saw, passed or saw Mr. Takieddine. He was never present in a place where I was.” “He said he was very careful never to be in the photos…” then retorts the president. “Yes, that’s new. He really paid attention! He wasn’t there”insists the defendant. He charges the Franco-Lebanese, currently on the run, as he did a week earlier. “I never liked him because from the moment you were friends with this manipulator, the risk of manipulation was great,” says the former head of state.
For his part, Claude Guéant repeated, Thursday, that Ziad Takieddine had trapped him by making him meet the former boss of Libyan military intelligence Abdallah Senoussi, sentenced to life in his absence by the French courts in 1999, for his role in the attack on UTA's DC-10. However, the dinner took place in Tripoli on October 1, 2005, five days before Nicolas Sarkozy's visit. The latter declared on Monday: “When Mr. Guéant says 'I was trapped', I believe him. At no time do I have any contact, neither with Mr. Senoussi, nor with Mr. Takieddine.”. However, according to the prosecution, this meeting was part of the quid pro quo for “corruption pact”, Abdallah Senoussi thus wishes to negotiate his amnesty in exchange for Libyan funds. “There was never a meeting between Mr. Senoussi and me, I never promised him an amnesty since I banned amnesty!”storms Nicolas Sarkozy, who effectively renounced the presidential pardon once elected, thus respecting a campaign promise.
“I didn't have a Libyan cent in my campaign. If there had been a cent, we would have found it!” said Nicolas Sarkozy again, as he said at the opening of the hearing. “This is the trial to find out if there was any financing from Gaddafi in Sarkozy’s campaign! And there was no financing”he insists, in response to questions from one of the three magistrates of the national financial prosecutor's office. “The corruption pact under the tent is impossiblehe maintains, It's the truth.” An assertion which was echoed shortly afterwards by a lawyer for the civil parties: “It’s YOUR truth.”
