Keyword: al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi
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Journalist 'witnessed deal' over Libyan funding of Sarkozy campaign
A Tunisian journalist who became a prominent figure in Muammar Gaddafi's regime has revealed that he was present during the negotiations over Libyan funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign. Tahaer Dahec says that the sum agreed was 57 million euros, part of which went to a middle man. The revelation comes after a French TV station broadcast an interview with the late Libyan dictator in which Gaddafi himself spoke about how he funded the campaign. As Karl Laske reports, it is yet more powerful evidence of the illegal financing by a foreign power of the former French president's election bid.
Former Libyan PM confirms Gaddafi gave Sarkozy 50M euros for election campaign

Former Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi has confirmed that the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi secretly provided 50 million euros for Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign. “We took part in Mr Sarkozy’s success and in the financing of his 2007 presidential campaign,” Mahmoudi said in an interview with Mediapart, conducted through his lawyer. "The figure of 50 million euros is correct.” Mahmoudi’s confirmation follows the publication by Mediapart of a December 2006 document, signed by the then head of Libya's foreign intelligence agency, Moussa Koussa, detailing how the Gaddafi regime agreed to “support the electoral campaign” of Sarkozy for the “sum of fifty million euros”, while the secret payments were to pass via the Libyan African Portfolio, a sovereign wealth investment fund. Fabrice Arfi and Karl Laske report.