The fact and fiction of Nicolas Sarkozy's claims against Mediapart
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy appeared on French television on Thursday in an attempt to dismiss evidence that this week led to him being placed under investigation for “illicit funding of an electoral campaign”, “receiving and embezzling public funds” from Libya and “passive corruption” by magistrates leading a probe into the alleged funding of his 2007 election campaign by late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy adopted the stance of victim, claiming that a Libyan document approving the secret funding, revealed by Mediapart in 2012, was a “forgery”, when he misled viewers about expert findings on its veracity and even denied the fact that their conclusions led to his suit against Mediapart being thrown out twice by judges. Mediapart reporters Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske detail here the hard facts about the evidence that the former president knowingly chose to ignore.
OnOn Thursday evening this week, the day after he had been placed under investigation by three judges for “illicit funding of an electoral campaign”, “receiving and embezzling public funds” from Libya and “passive corruption”, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy appeared in a live studio interview on the flagship news programme of French TV channel TF1 in an attempt to discredit evidence suggesting he received funds for his 2007 presidential election campaign from the regime of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
