Libyan funding: Sarkozy counter-attacks and expresses his "anger" at being "dragged through the mud"
Nicolas Sarkozy spoke on Friday by saying his "anger" at having been "dragged through the mud", during an interview with BFMTV given two days after the surprise withdrawal of accusations on an alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign . AFP
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Nicolas Sarkozy counterattacked Friday by saying his "anger" at having been "dragged in the mud", during an interview with BFMTV given two days after the surprise withdrawal of accusations on an alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign .
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"
I am torn between a cold anger, the depth and strength of which you cannot imagine
,"
and
"
amazement
", said Nicolas Sarkozy.
"
It is serious, not just for me (...) but for France, which gives the feeling that its former head of state could be corrupt, it is an ignominy
", he added. .
In this case, "
there is not the shadow of a transfer, not the shadow of a payment
", he hammered.
In November 2016, while Nicolas Sarkozy was running for the right's inauguration for the presidential election, Ziad Takieddine, a sulphurous intermediary and one of the main prosecution witnesses, claimed to have conveyed between November 2006 and early 2007 "
a total of five million euros
”in suitcases on three trips between Tripoli and Paris.
On Wednesday, he
withdrew his accusations
, in a video unveiled by BFMTV and Paris Match (owned by the Lagardère group where Nicolas Sarkozy is a member of the supervisory board).
"
Is it normal that a former President of the Republic is dragged through the mud as I have been for eight years, on the sole statements of an individual who lied?"
Asked Nicolas Sarkozy.
The national financial prosecutor, however, affirmed Thursday that the charges against Nicolas Sarkozy "
are not limited to statements
" by Ziad Takieddine and are based "
on serious or concordant evidence
".
A file "full of fakes"
"
This file is riddled with nothing but false,
" replied Nicolas Sarkozy,
indicted on October 12
for "
criminal association
", in this file, refuting point by point the arguments against him.
"
I said to the judges
: search for a century (...) you will not find anything
"
.
"
I am ashamed for my country,
" added the ex-president, very upset.
Immediately after the interview with Ziad Takieddine, Nicolas Sarkozy had asked his lawyer to "
file a request for dismissal
" while assuring him: "
the truth is out
".
"
I am not a rotten, and what is inflicted on me is a scandal which will end in the annals
", affirmed Friday Nicolas Sarkozy, who will be judged from November 23 in another case,
that of the "tapping"
.
"
I am not optimistic, simply combative, I do not intend to be reproached for things that I did not commit
", assured Nicolas Sarkozy.
The right, which had formed a body around its former leader in the last twists and turns of the Libyan affair, welcomed Friday to see "
a combative Nicolas Sarkozy and faithful to himself
", in the words of the LR boss of the region Grand Est, Jean Rottner.
(With
AFP
)
It is not a political question but it is a question of truth and it is a question of honor.
I'll go all the way to prove that I've always told the truth.
Libyan funding: interview with Nicolas Sarkozy at BFMTV
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