Ahmad 
Carla Bruni Sarkozy, wife of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, faces charges related to the case of Libyan financing of her husband’s election campaign in 2007, after a lengthy interrogation session.
According to French judicial authorities, Bruni was placed under judicial surveillance due to the possibility of witness tampering.
The case centers on allegations that Sarkozy’s election campaign received illegal funds from the regime of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
In 2016, the French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Taqi al-Din indicated that he had transferred several bags containing millions of euros from the Libyan regime to the French Ministry of the Interior, which was headed by Sarkozy at the time. However, Taqi al-Din later retracted his accusations, which raised doubts about The possibility of bribing a witness to change his statement.
The judicial authorities suspect that the former president’s circle provided money to Taqi al-Din to change his statement, and that Carla Bruni’s role was in arranging communication between the parties concerned.
The accusations against Bruni-Sarkozy include her attempt to conceal the tampering with the main prosecution witness, as well as an attempt to deceive the judges in charge of the investigation.
Investigators of the Central Department for Combating Corruption, Financial and Tax Crimes questioned Bruni-Sarkozy twice: first as a witness in June 2023, and the second as a suspect last May.
Commenting on the accusations, Bruni-Sarkozy’s defense lawyers, Paul Malle and Benoit Martinez, considered that the decision “is not based on any sound foundations, whether from a legal or factual standpoint,” and stressed that Bruni is determined to assert her rights and appeal this decision.
Sarkozy is expected to be tried at the beginning of next year on charges of “covering up the embezzlement of public funds” and “illegal financing of an election campaign.”
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