FALCON POWERS – A source close to the case informed AFP on Saturday (June 29, 2024) that Carla Bruni Sarkozy – the former singer and model (56 years old) – is facing prosecution on several charges, including concealment of witness tampering and a criminal organization aimed at preparing fraud before the court and corrupting Lebanese judicial officers.
The date of Bruni Sarkozy’s interrogation, who married the former president in 2008, has not been specified. She may be charged at the end of the interrogation or considered as an assisting witness at best. She had previously been interrogated twice by investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption, Financial and Tax Crimes: first as a witness in June 2023 and then as a suspect in early May of the past year.
The judicial investigation, which began in May 2021, aims to uncover the roles played by 12 people close to Sarkozy in order to change the position of the French-Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine during an interview organized by Michelle Marchand, who owns the “Best Image” agency.
At the end of 2020, Takieddine surprisingly exonerated the former president (2007-2012), after being the main party accusing him in the “Libyan funds” case, which were paid by the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
There are suspicions that Sarkozy approved these maneuvers, but he denies this. He is scheduled to be tried at the beginning of next year on charges of “concealment of misappropriation of public funds” and “illegal financing of an electoral campaign”.
His lawyers filed a request in April 2024 to cancel this procedure. Elements of the investigation obtained by AFP and published by the newspaper “Le Parisien” show that the investigating financial judge in charge of the case believes there is evidence of the use of a secret telephone line by Carla Bruni Sarkozy.
The judge believes that the mentioned line was used by the couple to receive messages from Michel Marchand on how to implement the campaign funding process.
When interrogated in early May 2024, the former president’s wife denied that the telephone line belonged to her. In a call with AFP, her lawyer Paul Malie refused to comment on the matter.
