Mimi Marchand, famous figure of the press people indicted in early June in a part of the investigation into suspicions of Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign, was placed in pre-trial detention on Friday, AFP learned from source close to the investigation.
"
A wiretap established that she had not respected her judicial review because she spoke to someone
" to whom she was not allowed to speak, said this source.
To read also: Jean-Michel Décugis: "Mimi Marchand flirts between the official and the private"
Mimi Marchand was imprisoned by a judge of freedoms and detention at the end of a hearing Friday afternoon, according to the same source.
His lawyer, Caroline Toby, could not be reached by AFP on Friday evening.
Mimi Marchand was indicted on June 5 for “
witness tampering
” and “
criminal association with a view to committing an organized gang fraud
”.
His judicial control provided for a ban on contact with several people, including the former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy, his lawyer Thierry Herzog, and the editorial director of the
JDD
and
Paris Match
, Hervé Gattegno.
The investigation follows an interview given last November by businessman Ziad Takieddine to a journalist from the weekly Paris Match, who visited Lebanon with a photographer from BestImage, Mimi Marchand's agency. . In this interview, Ziad Takieddine withdrew his statements against Nicolas Sarkozy, while he accused him for years of having received money for his 2007 presidential campaign from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Two months later, questioned by the investigating judges in charge of the Libyan case, the Franco-Lebanese intermediary, known for his versatility, claimed that his words had been "
distorted
" by
Paris Match
who, he added, "
belongs to a friend of Sarkozy
”.
Read also: Ziad Takieddine, an intermediary who talks too much
Four other people suspected of having taken part in the organization of this controversial interview have been indicted. Among them, the advertiser Arnaud de la Villesbrunne, the businessman Pierre Reynaud and Noël Dubus, a man already convicted of fraud. The photographer author of the photo and video report, Sébastien Valiela, was heard Tuesday as a "
free suspect
" in this investigation.
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