Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, has been charged on suspicion of involvement in witness tampering in a corruption case involving her husband.
The supermodel-turned-singer was placed under formal investigation — the equivalent of charging a suspect in the UK — in connection with claims she participated in a plot to pay a key witness to retract allegations against Sarkozy.
Bruni-Sarkozy, 56, was charged with “receiving the proceeds of witness tampering” and “participating in a gang of wrongdoers with a view to committing the offence of fraud”.
The case follows claims by Ziad Takieddine, 74, a Franco-Lebanese arms broker and the uncle of Amal Clooney, the British lawyer married to George Clooney. Takieddine alleges that Sarkozy accepted €5 million from Colonel Gaddafi, the late Libyan despot, to finance his 2007 presidential campaign. Takieddine stated that he acted as an intermediary between Gaddafi and Sarkozy.
Sarkozy, 69, who has already been convicted of corruption in two separate cases, has been charged in connection with the alleged Libyan funds, which he denies having received.
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In 2020, Takieddine gave an interview to Paris Match magazine in which he retracted his allegations, saying Sarkozy had not received “a cent” from Gaddafi. Two months later he went back to his original statement.
French prosecutors believe that he was promised millions of euros for the interview in return for clearing Sarkozy’s name. At least ten people are suspected of conspiring to pervert the court of justice over the interview, including a Paris Match journalist and Michèle “Mimi” Marchand, 77, a photo agency proprietor dubbed the “queen of paparazzi”. Marchand is among ten people to have been charged in connection with the case. They all deny wrongdoing.
Sarkozy was charged with witness tampering and participating in “a criminal gang with a view to committing a judicial fraud” last year. He denies any knowledge of a payment to Takieddine, telling detectives that the plot was hatched by “rank amateurs” hoping to curry favour with him.
Bruni-Sarkozy also denied any involvement in the plot. According to a transcript of her interrogation leaked to the French media, she said she had been “stupidly naive”. She said Marchand had “used [Sarkozy’s] name to give herself weight” and described the photo agency owner as “clever but not always truthful” and “very manipulative”.
Marchand has denied any involvement in the plot.
