Usually, the hearings for the setting of the trial do not attract much attention. Lawyers and judges prepare for the long trials by discussing the schedule, the procedural defects that will be raised or the civil parties that wish to be constituted. On Thursday, September 5, the hearing to set the trial for suspected Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign in 2007, which is due to take place from January 6, 2025 in the Paris court and where the former President of the Republic was brought back with twelve other people, but in the end it had the appearance of a hearing.
In a large room with furnished benches, Mmy Christophe Ingrain, one of the defense lawyers, questioned the authenticity of a document “in the genesis of research” – a note published by Midpart in 2012, in which the head of Libya’s foreign intelligence services, Moussa Koussa, mentioned Tripoli’s commitment to pay 50 million euros to Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign. Gold, “If this note is false (…), The construction built on this void collapses,” says the lawyer.
METROmy Ingrain goes further. He accuses the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) and an investigator of “concealment [d’]element[s] exculpatory »The latter had not attached to the Libyan financing file two documents questioning the authenticity of Moussa Koussa’s note. They learned of this through a second procedure concerning Nicolas Sarkozy that they were conducting in parallel: the investigation into the improvised and publicised retraction in November 2020 by Ziad Takieddine.
These two documents – one ” analysis “ declassified from the French intelligence services and the hearing of a former Libyan intelligence officer working at the Libyan embassy in France – list a number of elements that “to establish the false nature of the alleged official Libyan document”according to the lawyer. Particular quote “the inconsistency between the two calendars [français et libyen, présents dans le document]the mention of a meeting held on a date corresponding to a Friday – a day of rest in Libya, excluding any meeting – [ou encore] The green colour of the ink used for Moussa Koussa’s signature is normally reserved for the exclusive use of Muammar Gaddafi”.
“Twisting the truth”
The lawyer finally asks the court to request from the French intelligence services all white notes relating to “to the Libyan note and (…) on the accusations of Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign »hoping to find there other elements for his defense. A request in no way “dilatory”He says, despite the impossibility of holding the trial if these documents did not arrive on time.
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