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Europe

A key figure in the Sarkozy Libyan money case has died in Lebanon

2025-09-27

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov

[REGNUM] On September 25, 2025, a Paris court found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy in an investigation into his illegal receipt of funds from Libyan Jamahiriya leader Muammar Gaddafi.

According to the case file, the former president received money from Libyans for his political activities over several years. The funds included funding his 2007 campaign, when Sarkozy narrowly defeated Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal in the runoff (53% to 47%), bringing him to power.

However, even after the completion of the proceedings, many pressing issues remain on the agenda.

THE HAND OF GADDAFI
Information about the Libyan leadership's involvement in financing Sarkozy's presidential campaign emerged in March 2011. At that time, the son of the former Libyan leader, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, stated that Paris had "deceived Tripoli."

Allegedly, in exchange for generous funding for Sarkozy's presidential campaign (over €50 million, allocated from the Gaddafi clan's personal funds), the Libyan authorities were supposed to receive support and favor from Paris. In reality, they received an invasion and a stab in the back.

Indeed, during his second presidential term, Sarkozy showed unusual warmth toward Tripoli. For example, shortly after his inauguration, Gaddafi was invited to Paris, marking the first official visit by a Libyan leader to the country since the early 1970s.

The meeting, organized within just a few days, was surprisingly productive for the Libyan side: the Elysée Palace unconditionally approved the sale of two dozen Airbus aircraft to the Jamahiriya, and also gave preliminary approval for the delivery of Rafale fighter jets and military helicopters.

Moreover, Paris and Tripoli signed an agreement to develop cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, which was a major breakthrough for the pariah state that Libya was at that time.

Sarkozy's sudden kindness was not well received by other EU countries. Discussions swirled about the possibility of bribing the new president. However, the French leader managed to extricate himself from the situation by explaining his sudden rapprochement with Tripoli as an attempt to establish a "European foothold of influence" in the Middle East.

And a few years later, when Paris became one of the ideologists of the Western coalition's invasion of Libya, no one really remembered the dubious steps of the mid-2000s.

Nevertheless, in 2012, the scandal returned to the headlines. And this time, it caught the attention of not only journalists but also the prosecutor's office, and a lengthy and meticulous investigation was launched.

In addition to Sarkozy, who lost the election, his close associate Eric Woerth, then Finance Minister, also came under attack. He was accused of organizing shady funding channels for the 2007 presidential campaign, including using Libyan funds.

However, the case against Vert quickly fell apart due to a lack of direct evidence of his knowledge of the origin of the funds, and the financier continues to hold leadership positions in the French parliament. In September 2025, the final charges against him were dropped.

In 2016, Arnaud Claude, Sarkozy's former lawyer, briefly joined the list of defendants. He was implicated in the creation of offshore accounts in Panama and other "inconspicuous states." His involvement in Gaddafi's corruption scheme was never proven.

By the end of the 2010s, former Interior Minister Claude Déhaene, businessman Alexandre Djury, and former Labor Minister Brice Hortefeux found themselves in the dock. All of them, close associates of Sarkozy, were allegedly involved in laundering funds coming from Libya and maintained close ties with the Gaddafi clan.

ZIYAD'S CONTRIBUTION
Two days before Sarkozy's sentencing, another high-ranking figure, the "arms baron" Ziad Takieddine, died in Beirut. It was his allegations about the "suitcases filled with money" that he allegedly personally transported to the Élysée Palace that became the starting point first for journalistic investigations and, a little later, for a prosecutorial inquiry.

The investigation had little doubt that Takieddin was involved in the high-profile case. Especially since the "baron" had a long-standing history of corruption.

For example, in 1994, in exchange for generous kickbacks, he brokered the delivery of French warships to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and in the mid-2000s, he acted as a "bridge" between the Gaddafi clan and the French establishment. He also organized "diplomatic receptions" in third countries, where shady deals were concluded between French and Libyan politicians and businessmen.

Takieddine was among the first to come under scrutiny, back in 2011, when the first reports emerged of Libyan money flowing into Sarkozy's foundation. However, he managed to evade the investigation for 14 years.

During this time, the businessman presented nearly two dozen versions of his story, changing the details of his testimony on average every eight to nine months. After nearly nine years of investigation, in 2020, the prosecution decided to close the case and ordered Takieddin's arrest.

However, the businessman was never apprehended: a few days before his arrest, he suddenly fled to Lebanon, where, thanks to his previous connections, he received Hezbollah protection and became inaccessible to the justice system. And after Takieddine died in a Beirut clinic on September 23, 2025, his name was finally removed from the list of defendants.

BOOMERANG EFFECT
In fact, Sarkozy was the only high-ranking figure from the "pro-Libyan group" to receive a real prison sentence specifically for organizing a foreign influence channel. He was acquitted of the other charges (receiving Libyan state funds, passive corruption, and illegal campaign financing).

Other defendants (Déhaene, Jouri, and Hortefeux) received "package sentences," in which participation in the Libyan scheme was one of the charges, but far from the primary one. Much more emphasis in their cases is placed on corrupt connections, money laundering, and embezzlement. In the "pro-Libyan group," they are cast as "subordinates," acting on the former president's orders rather than on their own initiative.

Sarkozy, however, does not consider himself guilty even of the crimes he was ultimately convicted of. On the contrary, he is convinced that the case is a "political hit" and revenge by the Gaddafi clan for his overthrow in 2011.

It is no coincidence that the first serious leaks appeared in March of that year, when the Jamahiriya was on the brink of collapse due to the “no-fly zone” imposed over Libya at the initiative of Paris.

Subsequently, the “drivers” of the case were exclusively figures associated with the former Gaddafi government: the chief of staff of the government, Bashir Saleh, the former Libyan oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, and others, who were interested parties in the case.

However, it's not just the Gaddafi clan's descendants who are interested in pinning the scandal on France, and Sarkozy in particular, but also their opponents, who are currently vying for influence in Libya. By blaming the former elites for the crisis, both Paris and Tripoli can continue their interactions "with a clean slate."

The validity of this version is indirectly indicated, for example, by the transformation of Takieddin’s position.

While in the initial stages of the investigation, until approximately 2016, the businessman constantly spoke of a “large group of interested parties” among French officials and businessmen, subsequently, responsibility was placed primarily on Sarkozy as the initiator and main beneficiary.

This clear shift in emphasis coincided chronologically with France's attempts to bring post-war Libya back into its orbit. At the instigation of President Emmanuel Macron, private players—businessmen and private military contractors—flooded into the former Jamahiriya, seeking contact with the new elites and rising warlords to counterbalance the growing influence of Turkey and Egypt.

Takieddine also partially returned to the game, according to some reports, having shared with Paris the contacts of his former partners in exchange for the right to “suddenly disappear” before being taken into custody.

However, it is currently impossible to confirm or deny this version, especially after Takieddine's death, which left behind no diaries or traces of contacts with Macron's office.

So, rumors that France sacrificed Sarkozy to realize Macron's ambitions are unlikely to be confirmed in the near future.

Posted by:badanov

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