The boss of the paparazzi agency BestImage Mimi Marchand, suspected of "
witness
tampering
" in the case of the alleged Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007, was brought on Saturday June 5 after two days in police custody .
Michèle Marchand, nicknamed "
Mimi
" in the middle of the press people, must be presented to an investigating judge for an indictment in an investigation for "
witness bribery
" and "
criminal association
".
Read also: Libyan funds: Sarkozy calls for defense testimonies not transmitted by Libya
Four other people in police custody
The judicial investigation was opened after an interview granted last November by Ziad Takieddine to a journalist from Paris Match, who had visited Lebanon with a photographer from BestImage.
Four other people also placed in police custody were also referred, according to one of the sources familiar with the matter.
Three of these people are the advertiser Arnaud de la Villesbrunne, former director of the Publicis agency, the businessman Pierre Reynaud and Noël Dubus, a man convicted of fraud.
Paris Match journalist François de Labarre was also taken into police custody on Thursday but was released in the evening, without prosecution at this stage.
"
The truth is out
"
In this interview given in November 2020, Ziad Takieddine withdrew his statements against Nicolas Sarkozy, after initially accusing him of having received money for his presidential campaign from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"
The truth is out,
" the former head of state immediately triumphed.
Two months later, questioned on January 14 in Beirut by examining magistrates Aude Buresi and Marc Sommerer in charge of the Libyan case, the intermediary, known for his versatility, declared that he did not confirm "
the words
" of the 'interview, claiming that they had been "
deformed
" by Paris Match, which "
belongs to a friend of Sarkozy
".
According to Le Parisien, Noël Dubus, who twice went to Beirut to meet Ziad Takeddine there before his withdrawal, would have benefited from suspicious payments, via Arnaud de la Villesbrunne, who was one of the providers of Mr. Sarkozy. According to Liberation, the businessman Pierre Reynaud would have advanced to Mr. Dubus funds to be given to Ziad Takieddine.
