Carla Bruni charged for trying to cover up accusations of illegal financing of Sarkozy’s campaign

The actress and singer Carla Bruni She has been charged with allegedly participating in an operation to silence the arms dealer Ziad Takieddinewho had accused her husband, Nicolas Sarkozyof having illegally financed his 2007 presidential campaign with money from Muammar Gaddafi.

Judicial sources cited by French media have confirmed that Bruni has been charged with having benefited from Takieddine’s bribe in the knowledge that the crime had been committed, and with being part of a group that intended to commit judicial fraud through these manoeuvres.

The accusation was formalized at the end of an appearance on Tuesday before the investigating judge who is leading this investigation.and is accompanied by judicial control that prevents her from coming into contact with all of the people involved except her husband.

The former French first lady is suspected of having acted as an intermediary between Sarkozy and Michèle Marchand, alias ‘Mimi’, a friend of the couple and known for her activity with the gossip press.

It is ‘Mimi’ Marchand who appears to have orchestrated the bribe of the shady Lebanese arms dealerwho denied allegations that Sarkozy’s campaign that took him to the Elysée Palace in 2007 received money from the Libyan regime then led by Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Takieddine, who had claimed before the judges that he had acted as an intermediary for the personal delivery of five million euros in cash between the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007, later denied this in an interview recorded in November 2020 in Beirut that was broadcast on the television channel BFMTV and for the magazine Paris Match.

These events led to the opening of a judicial investigation in May 2021 and Sarkozy was indicted as the beneficiary of the alleged bribe from the Lebanese arms dealerA dozen other people are also indicted, including ‘Mimi’ Marchand, according to reports. Efe.

Investigators suspect that the former French president’s wife was aware of the operation with Takieddine and one of the pieces of evidence is a hidden telephone line that she opened to exchange messages with Michèle Marchand.