Nicolas Sarkozy 'received £42 million from Muammar Gaddafi for 2007 election'

Nicolas Sarkozy received £42 million from Muammar Gaddafi in funding for his 2007 presidential election campaign, it was claimed on Monday.



The “terms” for handing over the money were agreed in a meeting between the two men in Libya two years before Mr Sarkozy’s election, documents published by a French investigative website suggest.A memo obtained by the Mediapart site and handed to a judge alleges that the meeting on Oct 6, 2005 resulted in “campaign financing” of “NS [Nicolas Sarkozy]” being “totally paid”.

At the time Mr Sarkozy was France’s interior minister with well-documented ambitions to succeed Jacques Chirac. Political financing laws ban candidates from receiving cash payments above €7,500 (£6,300) but Mediapart claims that €50 million mentioned in the memo were laundered through bank accounts in Panama and Switzerland.

The Swiss account, it is alleged, was opened in the name of the sister of Jean-Francois Copé, the leader of Mr Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party and one of the most active campaigners for his re-election.

The memo claims that “ZT”, believed to be an arms dealer called Ziad Takieddine, known to have close ties with several of Mr Sarkozy’s most loyal aides, was “in charge of arrangements”.
It also mentions “several previous meetings” between Mr Takieddine and Saif-al Islam Gaddafi, Gaddafi’s son and former heir, who last year claimed that Libya had funded Mr Sarkozy’s election.

By Henry Samuel, Paris