A new twist in the affair of Ziad Takieddine's retraction and his accusations of Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 campaign? And this would concern the wife of the former President of the Republic (2007-2012).
Heard first as a witness in June 2023 then as a “complaint” last May by investigators, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was interviewed by two investigating judges on July 9. The latter then decided to indict him for “concealment of witness tampering and criminal conspiracy with a view to fraud in judgment by an organized gang.
The artist's about-face
At the heart of the investigations, a telephone nicknamed “43 97”. The judges suspect that it was used by the Sarkozy couple to communicate discreetly with “Mimi” (Michèle) Marchand, ex-popess of the celebrity press and former friend of the model, also implicated. In front of the police in May, the singer of Someone told me had denied holding this line or knowing of the alleged initiatives to exonerate her husband.
Cornered by the investigators' questions about the inconsistencies in her version, the singer blurted out: “I'm trying to come up with explanations.” But on July 9, according to her statements to judges of which AFP has just learned, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy ended up admitting to having “used this phone in ellipsis, sometimes. It was the police who told me, because I didn’t remember.”
An SMS exchange with “Mimi” Marchand scrutinized
“This line is not an occult line as I read in the press”, it had been “opened for my children” who helped her, like the police, to refresh her memory, she also recalled the 56-year-old artist.
She justified its use because her main line would have been blocked abroad, her usual phone would have broken “while doing the ElliptiGO” (an elliptical bike) or even because her messaging services would have been hacked.
But if Carla Bruni-Sarkozy recognized the evidence of the possession of “43 97”, the model persisted in denying being the author and recipient of the SMS exchanged with Mimi Marchand which seem to be linked to this so-called “Save Sarko” operation. “.
“On October 18, 2020, you learn that Mimi Marchand is going to Lebanon” to meet Ziad Takieddine, “on October 22 you ask him upon his arrival if everything is going well, and on November 1, you receive a long report message. Do you understand that we are wondering? », then says one of the judges at the beginning of July. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy then denies having read this last message, but the judge technically proves the opposite. “Whose act. I have no memory,” the model continues.
Bruni-Sarkozy : « U“absolute coincidence”
“Is Nicolas Sarkozy the final destination? » of the report, we ask him. “I didn’t read it and I didn’t let anyone read it,” Carla Bruni-Sarkozy further attests. “How do you explain” that this phone appears on “fairly key” dates? » in the alleged operation, the magistrates later questioned.
“For me, it’s an absolute coincidence”, certifies the artist, a coincidence orchestrated according to her by Mimi Marchand, who “lies”, who “manipulates” and for whom she now harbors assumed “hostility”: “Someone who went to prison, it’s never by chance,” says Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Asked by AFP, his lawyers Paul Mallet and Benoît Martinez responded that this line had been opened “well before” the operation subject of this investigation and is “therefore unrelated to it”. “Carla Bruni-Sarkozy will provide evidence demonstrating that she used it to communicate occasionally with relatives, completely unrelated to the procedure,” they added.
Also questioned, Me Caroline Toby indicated that her client Mimi Marchand “read with astonishment the harsh statements made by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy towards her. She has always maintained that neither she nor her husband were directly or indirectly involved (in the) alleged acts. She doesn’t understand this trial of intent.”
