The Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine again accused the magistrates of having incited him to implicate Nicolas Sarkozy in the investigation into the Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign, of "
pure fabrications
" according to the judges instruction interviewed by AFP.
To read also: Takieddine and Sarkozy: justice and the media must question their prejudices
In a deposition written on December 12 in Beirut and revealed by
Paris Match
and
BFMTV
, the sulphurous intermediary claims to have been "
manipulated by judges who do not want to know the truth but who want to destroy a former president
".
"
The judges had made me promises in exchange for erroneous statements and against Nicolas Sarkozy and I accepted
", assures in this deposition the businessman who has multiplied the reversals since the launch of this investigation in 2013 , in which he is indicted.
According to him, the judges would have made him dangle, during unofficial meetings, the assurance of "going
out with his head held high
In the Karachi case, which earned him a 5-year prison sentence in June from which he escaped by fleeing to Lebanon.
These new accusations are "
pure fabrications
" reacted to AFP the former judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, who investigated the Karachi case relating to hidden commissions linked to arms contracts with Saudi Arabia and the Pakistan.
"
There has never been the slightest agreement (...) to negotiate a sentence in the Karachi affair in exchange for confessions
" in the Libyan case, he added.
Read also: Libyan funding: Ziad Takieddine claims to have been "manipulated" by the judges
For his part, Judge Serge Tournaire, who investigated the Libyan case until 2019, "
firmly contests all of the statements made by Mr. Ziad Takieddine
", told AFP Catherine Pautrat, president of the Nanterre court. , of which Mr. Tournaire is first vice-president in charge of instruction.
Judge Tournaire "would like
to point out that the only meetings with the person concerned took place in his office at the Paris judicial court, in the context of questioning in the presence of his lawyer, co-investigated colleagues and his clerk
", Ms. Pautrat clarified.
"
No discussion took place, and a fortiori no agreement was reached with Mr. Ziad Takieddine,
" she added.
The National Financial Prosecutor's Office told AFP that it had been "
recipient
" of Mr. Takieddine's testimony "
but does not intend to comment at this stage
".
Mr. Takieddine, who had until then implicated the former head of state, also indicted in this case, had an about-face in November, affirming that “
Mr. Sarkozy did not have funding Libyan for the presidential campaign
”.
Contacted by AFP, his lawyer Me Elise Arfi, did not wish to react.