France’s Sarkozy faces possible indictment over witness-tampering

PARIS: French prosecutors on Tuesday said they were seeking indictments against former president Nicolas Sarkozy, his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and nine others in an alleged witness-tampering case.
The possible indictment concerns the sudden retraction of Ziad Takieddine, a key accuser of the former head of state, in a case over alleged illegal campaign financing from late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Takieddine, who died in late September, had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to five million euros ($6 million) in cash from Qaddafi to Sarkozy and the former president’s chief of staff in 2006 and 2007.
But in 2020, Takieddine suddenly retracted his incriminating statement, prompting accusations that Sarkozy and close allies paid the witness to change his mind, something they have always denied.
France’s national financial prosecutor’s office said in a statement it was requesting the indictment of Sarkozy on charges of “criminal conspiracy to commit fraud as part of an organized gang” and “concealment of witness tampering.”
Model and singer Bruni-Sarkozy would face only the charge of “criminal conspiracy to commit fraud as part of an organized gang.”
An investigating judge will decide whether to refer them to a criminal court.
When contacted by AFP, Sarkozy’s lawyer Christophe Ingrain said he had no comment.
Sarkozy, who was in office from 2007 to 2012, was found guilty in September of seeking illegal funding from Qaddafi’s Libya for the campaign that saw him elected French president.
The former head of state was sentenced to five years behind bars, but left La Sante prison in Paris after serving just 20 days, following a judge’s order for his release pending appeal.
He has always maintained his innocence. An appeals trial is to get underway in March.
The 70-year-old remains an influential figure on the right despite the legal problems that have dogged him since leaving office.