Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine was released under judicial supervision on Monday, December 7 - a few days after his arrest on the basis of a notice issued by Interpol - pending a transfer of his file by Paris, told AFP a judicial source.

Aged 70, Ziad Takieddine is the former prosecution witness against the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy in the case of the Libyan financing of the presidential campaign of the former head of state.

He is also targeted by a French arrest warrant in the context of the so-called "Karachi" affair, on the payment of hidden commissions.

"The Attorney General at the Court of Cassation (...) decided on Monday to release Ziad Takieddine after determining his place of residence, confiscating his passports" so that he could not leave Lebanese territory, said the judicial source under on condition of anonymity.

The Lebanese prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, will address the competent French authorities to request that the legal file of Ziad Takieddine be handed over to him in order to examine the charges against him in France and take the legal steps, added the same source.

It is particularly a question of whether the businessman can be tried in Lebanon, it was added.

No extradition agreement between France and Lebanon

Friday, after the announcement of his arrest, a French source indicated that France and Lebanon had "not concluded an extradition agreement", adding that Lebanon "does not extradite its nationals".

"The procedure could therefore very quickly end there", he added.

For several months, Ziad Takieddine has been the target of an arrest warrant issued by the Paris court, which sentenced him to five years in prison in the context of the Karachi case.

This case concerns the payment of kickbacks related to arms contracts with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, part of which helped finance Edouard Balladur's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1995. Ziad Takieddine was absent during the judgment , having fled to Beirut the day before his conviction.

According to a Lebanese security source, he appeared before the Lebanese Financial Crimes Bureau on Tuesday in a separate case when the authorities realized that there was a request for his arrest from Interpol.

He was then imprisoned on the basis of this request.

With AFP

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