Sarkozy faces new claims over Gaddafi 'suitcases of cash'

A French-Lebanese businessman has described how he delivered millions of euros in cash from the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to Nicolas Sarkozy to fund his successful bid for the French presidency in 2007.

Speaking on camera to the Mediapart news website on Tuesday, Ziad Takieddine said he had handed over three suitcases to Sarkozy and his campaign director, Claude Gueant, containing about five million euros in banknotes.

He said he was given the suitcases by Abdullah Senussi, Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief.

Takieddine said he had delivered the suitcases to the interior ministry where Sarkozy was minister at the time. He went on to win the presidential election and served as French President between 2007 and 2012.

Takieddine’s comments come as Sarkozy is seeking the nomination as the conservative candidate in next year’s presidential election in primary elections due to begin on Sunday.

“Why and how can a guy like this stand for the presidency of the republic? The French people must react. It will explode,” Takieddine told Mediapart.

Libyan officials from the Gaddafi era have previously claimed they helped finance Sarkozy's election campaign.

But Sarkozy has denied accusations that he took covert funding from Libya. He has yet to respond to Takieddine’s allegation.

As French President, Sarkozy was considered to have been one of the main advocates for the NATO-led intervention in Libya in support of rebels who overthrew and killed Gaddafi in an uprising in 2011.

Gueant's lawyer Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi denied the claims, telling the Reuters news agency: “Claude Gueant’s has always been very clear. He never received from near or far or heard about a centime of money from Libya to support Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign. He has repeated this multiple times to the judicial authorities.”

France's public prosecutor opened a judicial investigation into earlier allegations by Takieddine in 2013, but until now, he had never described how the money was transferred or directly pinpointed Sarkozy.

Takieddine said he had given a written deposition to judges on 12 November detailing three cash transfers between 2006-2007 and his meetings with Gueant and Sarkozy.

At no point, he says, did he see the two men ever look inside the cases after he dropped them off.

A profile of Takieddine published by the Independent newspaper in 2013 described him as a "ski-resort owner with a taste for the high life" who had "re-invented himself as a middle-man for arms negotiations between France and Middle Eastern and Muslim countries".

Sarkozy is trailing in the polls behind the current favourite, Alain Juppé, who was prime minister from 1995 to 1997.

Polls suggest that next year’s presidential election will likely be contested between the conservative candidate and far-right Front National leader Marine Le Pen.