Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was reportedly placed in custody Tuesday as part of an investigation regarding illegal funding for his 2007 presidential campaign from former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Sarkozy was being held at Nanterre police station, west of Paris, a judicial source told The Associated Press.
The investigation has been ongoing since 2013, but didn’t gain momentum until 2016 when Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told Mediapart, an online investigative site, that he handed over suitcases of $6.2 million in cash to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff Claude Gueant on three occasions.
Takieddine – who has a history with the French justice system over allegations of providing illegal campaign funds in the past — said he received the money from Qaddafi’s intelligence chief in 2006 and 2007 and that the deliveries took place in the Interior Ministry, while Sarkozy was interior minister.
AAN Staff
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