Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine arrested in Lebanon

Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, a former prosecution witness against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was arrested in Beirut following a notice issued by Interpol, a judicial source said on Friday.

"The national security forces have placed Takieddine in detention, on the basis of an Interpol arrest warrant addressed to the public prosecutor because he is wanted by the French authorities for his involvement in a case of corruption and financing of the campaign "by Nicolas Sarkozy, said this source.

Heard by Lebanese justice in another case

She added that Ziad Takieddine had been questioned by the security forces, under the supervision of a judge, and that he was to be transferred to the Beirut general prosecutor's office on Monday for further investigation.

Ziad Takieddine was appearing before Lebanon's Financial Crimes Bureau on Tuesday in a separate case, when authorities realized there was a request for his arrest from Interpol, and he was taken into custody, according to a security source.

Extradition to France possible

If the charges against him were deemed to be justified, he could be tried in Lebanon as a Lebanese citizen, or be extradited to France, the judicial source noted.

In 2016, Ziad Takieddine told the French news site Mediapart that, in 2006 and 2007, he had personally handed over five million euros in cash from Libya to finance Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign.

On November 11, in a spectacular about-face, he withdrew his accusations against Nicolas Sarkozy in an interview with the weekly Paris Match and the BFMTV channel.

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Sentenced to 5 years in prison in Karachi case

Ziad Takieddine, 70, fled to Beirut after being sentenced in June in France to five years in prison in connection with the Karachi affair over kickbacks linked to arms contracts with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, part of which helped finance Edouard Balladur's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1995. He spent two weeks in prison in Lebanon - from October 26 to November 10 - in a dispute with his former lawyer, Hani Mourad, before being released under judicial supervision.

This complaint refers to "threats, blackmail, defamation, fraud, breach of trust" and non-payment of fees.

Born on June 14, 1950 in a large family of Lebanese Druze, Ziad Takieddine worked for a long time in advertising, before leaving his country torn by civil war.

In the 1980s, he ran the Isola 2000 mountain resort, in the Alpes-Maritimes in France.

Converted into the negotiation of juicy arms contracts, he made a fortune by using his political connections before becoming a "cumbersome friend" for the French right and an outcast surrounded by justice, baffled by his fluctuating statements.