On the stand for three hours, the former President of the Republic attacked one of his main accusers in this case.
Claude Gueant? “A close associate for eight years.” Brice Hortefeux? “A friend” since 1976. Alexandre Djouhri? An intermediary with whom he had “cordial relations”and who worked “to avoid tensions with the Chirac clan”. Ziad Takieddine? “A patent liar”and “crook”for which he “always felt a certain natural antipathy”. During his first interrogation in the trial of suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign, Monday January 13, Nicolas Sarkozy focused his attacks for more than three hours on one of the major absentees from this legal meeting. This co-defendant, on the run in Lebanon, is one of the former president’s main accusers in this sprawling case, which has caused him to appear before the courts for the fifth time.
At the end of 2012, during an interrogation as part of the financial aspect of the Karachi affair – in which he was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison – the Franco-Lebanese businessman mentioned the financing of the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy to the tune of 50 million euros by the regime of Colonel Gaddafi. According to this intermediary close to the balladurian circles, the payments through him began at the end of 2006 and reached 5 million euros at the beginning of 2007. He even claims on several occasions to have left suitcases full of notes at the Ministry of the Interior, including one in clean hands to Nicolas Sarkozy on January 27. “On January 27, I was in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, in Vaucluse, stroke of luck, Madam President!” exclaims the former Minister of the Interior.
Looking back on his political career since the town hall of Neuilly and his rise to the Elysée, Nicolas Sarkozy assured that he had only met “twice” Ziad Takieddine, “in 2002 with Philippe Séguin [alors député] and in 2003, he accompanied the Saudi Interior Minister and provided translation”he maintains before the Paris Criminal Court. “When he travels, Mr. Takieddine, it is not to serve as an interpreter, it is still suspicious”opposes one of the three prosecutors of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. “That there were Libyan payments to Takieddine”It is “incontestable”concedes Nicolas Sarkozywho insists that he was in no way concerned. Ziad Takieddine “isn’t that generous”he quips.
Regularly provoking laughter in the audience, the one who emphasizes that he filled meetings with “80,000 people” launches into an anaphora: “During the four years at the Ministry of the Interior, did I make an appointment with Takieddine? The answer is ‘no’. Did I meet him during the five years as President of the Republic? made an appointment? The answer is ‘no’. Was he on the trip when the nurses were released? [bulgares] ? The answer is ‘no’. “Was he at the dinner when Gaddafi came to Paris? The answer is ‘no’.”
“Mr. Takieddine played no role with me, I ask you to believe in my sincerity.”
Nicolas Sarkozy, defendant and former presidentat the bar of the Paris Criminal Court
In addition, Nicolas Sarkozy refers to his “agendas”, “analyzed”and at the “documentation” by Ziad Takieddine, “very well exploited”. “If he had the slightest trace of contact with me, he would have kept it”he argues, pointing his finger at the court. Tackling the passage of his lifelong enemy within the right, Jean-François Copé, “great support from Mr. Takieddine”the former head of state knows nothing about the relations between Brice Hortefeux and this “agent d’influence”. They stood “in a private setting, he did not have to tell me about it, he will explain it”he justifies, hastening to add, under the gaze of his former minister, “that at the time Ziad Takieddine was not the sulphurous man he became”.
Was Ziad Takieddine more social at the time? Not to believe this other statement from Nicolas Sarkozy at the helm: “I’ve never had a photo taken with him, that must ask you questions, have you seen me like that!” How can we explain, then, the testimony of the ex-wife of the intermediary, who assured the investigators that her husband had “received a call” in June 2008 by Nicolas Sarkozy for the death of his mother. “My husband was very moved by this call, he found it touching that the President of the Republic called him”she said. The person concerned contests: “At no time was I informed of the death of Takieddine’s mother and called him to offer my condolences, otherwise I would tell you!”
A lawyer for the civil party, Claire Josserand-Schmidt, is surprised that Ziad Takieddine “singed in front of his wife, who spent more than twenty years with him, a phone call from the President of the Republic and the emotion that it aroused in him”. The defendant summons the big story to sweep away the small one: “2008 is the year of the financial crisis, I am president and excuse me, president of Europe too! And I am going to call Takieddine with whom I have no contact to say: ‘All my condolences for your mother? More laughter in the room.
And the former leader repeated, as during his opening remarks on Thursday, that the Franco-Lebanese was convicted of “false testimony” in the Karachi affair. “Because we have been convicted once, we are never credible again?”observes the lawyer, while her interlocutor has just been definitively sentenced to one year in prison in the wiretapping affair. The civil party scores a point. Right in his boots, Nicolas Sarkozy maintains: “Mr. Takieddine, at the time, was a non-issue for me.” He is now at the center of the debate. The hearing is scheduled to continue on Wednesday.
