Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has been summoned once again as part of the complex investigation into the alleged Libyan financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign.
According to a source close to the case, the 56-year-old singer and former model faces multiple charges, including concealing witness tampering, involvement in a criminal conspiracy to prepare for fraud, and corruption of Lebanese judicial officials.
The date for Bruni-Sarkozy’s questioning has not yet been set. She married the former president in 2008 and could either be charged at the end of the questioning or considered an assisting witness at best. Investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Crimes have already questioned her twice: once as a witness in June 2023 and again as a suspect in early May of this year.
The judicial investigation, which began in May 2021, aims to uncover the roles played by 12 individuals close to Sarkozy in an attempt to influence the French-Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine’s position during an interview organized by Michèle Marchand, who owns the “Best Image” agency.
In late 2020, Takieddine unexpectedly exonerated the former president (2007-2012) after previously being the main accuser in the “Libyan money” case, alleging funds were provided by the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
Sarkozy is suspected of having agreed to these manipulations, though he denies this. He is scheduled to go on trial early next year on charges of “concealing the embezzlement of public funds” and “illegal campaign financing.”
His lawyers filed a motion in April to dismiss this procedure.
Elements of the investigation, parts of which were published by “Le Parisien” newspaper, suggest that the financial investigating judge believes there is evidence of a secret phone line used by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
The judge suspects that the phone line was used by the couple to receive messages from Michèle Marchand on how to carry out the campaign financing scheme.
During her questioning in early May, the former president’s wife denied that the phone line was hers. When contacted by AFP, her lawyer Paul Mallet declined to comment.
Ziad Takieddine, who fled to Lebanon to avoid arrest in France, was the main accuser against Sarkozy. However, he retracted his accusation in late 2020, stating to two media outlets that the former president “did not receive a single penny to finance the presidential campaign” in 2007.
