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– Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy during the funeral of Jacques Chirac in 2019
The investigations focus on the spectacular about-face at the end of 2020 by the Franco-Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine who suddenly cleared the former French head of state in the investigation into Libyan funds, which would have been paid by the regime of Gaddafi, after having been his main accuser. Investigators suspect several people close to Nicolas Sarkozy of having participated in an operation to obtain this change of heart, which ultimately had no impact on the heart of the investigations into Libyan funds. In this witness tampering aspect, Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted at the beginning of October. His wife Carla Bruni was heard as a simple witness in June 2023 but is now among those implicated due to her exchanges with the French “queen of the paparazzi”, Mimi Marchand, suspected of having participated in the retraction of Mr. Takieddine and charged in this case.
According to a Source close to the case, the judge in charge of the investigation wonders in particular about a possible “desire to conceal” Carla Bruni while all her messages exchanged with Mimi Marchand would have been deleted on June 5, 2021, the day of the the indictment of the latter. The ex-top model and singer is therefore suspected to have played at least a role of point of contact in this matter between different protagonists. Hearings have been carried out in recent months in his entourage, another Source close to the matter told AFP.
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Nicolas Sarkozy: we summarize the Bygmalion affair for you in three minutes
Ten years of investigation
In this case, there are now eleven protagonists, including Ms. Bruni, who are suspected of having participated, at varying times and degrees, in this operation which was mainly aimed at deceiving French justice. At the heart of the Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign, Mr. Sarkozy was also put on trial alongside twelve other defendants, after ten years of investigation. The former head of state, who disputes the facts, must be tried in early 2025, notably for “concealment of embezzlement of public funds”, “passive corruption” and “illegal financing of an electoral campaign”.
