She is a figure in the celebrity press and close to the Macron couple. Arrested early Thursday morning at her home and placed in police custody, Michèle Marchand said "Mimi" was referred on Friday evening. A deferral of the "papess" of the paparazzi which follows nearly two days of hearing in the premises of the Central Office for the fight against corruption and financial and fiscal offenses (Oclciff) as part of a judicial investigation opened by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) for witness tampering and criminal association. The custody of a journalist from Paris Match was lifted Thursday evening.
This investigation relates to suspicions of “witness bribery” and “criminal association” relating to an interview given last November by Ziad Takieddine to the journalist from Paris Match, who had visited Lebanon with a photographer from BestImage, the Mimi Marchand's press agency.
A new front has thus opened up in the case of the alleged Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007.
In the November interview at the heart of this new investigation, which was also the subject of a video broadcast on BFMTV, Mr. Takieddine had withdrawn his accusations against the former head of state.
"Mr. Sarkozy did not have Libyan funding for the presidential campaign, nor Mr. Gaddafi could do it because he never did," he said in particular.
Takieddine's about-face
The former President and several of his relatives had welcomed these retractions published in the press which called into question the legitimacy of the file.
Nicolas Sarkozy is indicted for corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds, illicit financing of electoral campaign and criminal association in the Libyan affair.
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 (have) the words". Of the interview.
Read also Takieddine's comeback: five minutes to understand the Libyan financing affair
While confirming the verbatim from the videos, Mr. Takieddine thus claimed in this interrogation, unveiled by AFP, that his remarks in November had been “distorted” by Paris Match, which “belongs to a friend of Sarkozy”.
Several times condemned in the past, Mimi Marchand was reconverted, 30 years ago with success in the press people where it makes today the rain and the good weather.
A full address book and a friend of celebrities, Michèle Marchand is known to be close to Carla and Nicolas Sarkozy, but also to the current presidential couple.