This costing was carried out as part of the judicial investigation into suspicions of payments to Ziad Takieddine, with the possible approval of Nicolas Sarkozy, so that he withdraws his accusations against the former head of state.
The Franco-Lebanese, who accused the latter since 2012, had made a spectacular about-face in November 2020 on BFMTV and Paris Match by declaring that Nicolas Sarkozy had in fact not benefited from funding from Muammar Gaddafi, before going back on his remarks two months later.
In this part of the case, nine people are indicted for witness tampering, criminal association or organized fraud.
The money, mainly mobilized by the financier Pierre Reynaud, was paid to various alleged protagonists of the operation, including the intermediary Noël Dubus, already convicted of fraud, an advertiser, Ziad Takieddine and a Lebanese close to the latter.
In addition, the investigators got their hands on the interception of a telephone conversation between Arnaud Lagardère and Hervé Gattegno, respectively owner and director of publication of Paris Match, which was confirmed by a source close to the file.
In this recording, Hervé Gattegno does not seem to exclude that Mimi Marchand, the "pope" of the paparazzi who is also indicted in this case, could have agreed on a financial arrangement with Ziad Takieddine, according to Mediapart.
He also says that she would have warned Nicolas Sarkozy of this draft article, considering that it was "a mistake".
Asked by AFP, Mr. Gattegno's lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, did not wish to react.
According to information from Mediapart, confirmed by the source close to the case, Mr. Gattegno, heard in an open hearing by the investigators in December 2021, assured that he did not want Nicolas Sarkozy to be warned of this report and that he had not operated any financial dealing.
Contacted, the lawyers of the former president, Me Thierry Herzog, Mimi Marchand, Me Caroline Toby, and the financier Pierre Reynaud, Me Margaux Durand-Poincloux did not wish to comment.
In addition, according to sources close to the case and a judicial source, the national financial prosecutor's office (PNF) has extended the investigation to facts of "concealment of witness tampering".
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