Former French first lady and supermodel Carla Bruni was questioned by police today as a suspect in a wide-ranging corruption case.
The 56-year-old is said to have attempted to “whitewash” her husband, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, over allegations he accepted millions in cash from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Bruni, who denies having committed any crime, went on Thursday to the Paris offices of the Central Office to Combat Corruption and Financial and Tax Violations.
“Her status is a free suspect,” said a source close to the case. “She has spoken to agents before, but not as a suspect in a case in which she is accused of trying to launder her husband.”
Bruni is a close friend of Mimi Marchand, a French mediator who has been formally investigated for “witness tampering” and “criminal corruption.”
Former French first lady and supermodel Carla Bruni (pictured) was questioned by police today as a suspect in a wide-ranging corruption case.
The 56-year-old is said to have tried to “whitewash” her husband, former president Nicolas Sarkozy (left), 69, over allegations he accepted millions in cash from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi (right, pictured together in 2007 ). )
Bruni is a close friend of Mimi Marchand (pictured), a French mediator who has been formally investigated for “witness tampering” and “criminal corruption.”
Marchand, 77, nicknamed “The Queen of the Paparazzi,” is accused of paying former Franco-Lebanese arms dealer Ziad Takieddine, 74, to make a sworn will in which he said he had arranged for them to be paid. millions of dollars from Colonel Gaddafi to Sarkozy.
During an interview published in Paris Match magazine four years ago, Takieddine withdrew his claim that suitcases full of cash had been handed over to Sarkozy’s colleagues.
It was alleged that the money was used to finance the 2007 election campaign in which Sarkozy won his only term as President of France.
Sarkozy used the 2020 interview to falsely claim that he had been acquitted because “the truth has already come to light.”
But prosecutors say Marchand, who also denies any wrongdoing, offered Takieddine incentives to change his story.
The case involving Bruni is called ‘Operation Save Sarko’ and is taking place simultaneously with the Libya financing case, in which Sarkozy has already been charged.
Takieddine, who is currently in Lebanon, is said to have received the equivalent of up to £4 million to “change his story”, prosecutors claim.
Bruni has continually denied any involvement in ‘Operation Save Sarko’, saying she tries to avoid legal cases involving her husband, who has already been convicted twice.
She said: “When people talk to me about this, it puts me in a situation of anger and indignation which doesn’t help my husband.”
Bruni added: “I am not the least bit curious about my husband’s affairs.”
But detectives say Bruni deleted all messages he had exchanged with Marchand on the encrypted app Signal, before Marchand’s indictment in June 2021.
It also emerged that when Marchand traveled to Beirut to see Takieddine in October 2020, at the height of the global Covid crisis, Bruni helped “arrange” a positive medical test for her.
“This is supposed to help Marchand in the Save Sarko operation,” said a source in the investigation.
One of Bruni’s security guards texted her at the time, saying: “Ma’am, this is a matter resolved by Tuesday morning, 48 hours before your departure to Lebanon.”
Marchand, 77, nicknamed ‘The Queen of the Paparazzi’, is accused of paying former Franco-Lebanese arms dealer Ziad Takieddine (pictured in 2016), 74, to make a sworn will in which He arranged for millions of dollars to be paid to Colonel Gaddafi. sarkozy
The case involving Bruni is called ‘Operation Save Sarko’ and is taking place simultaneously with the Libya financing case, in which Sarkozy has already been charged. Bruni has continually denied any involvement, saying she tries to avoid legal cases involving her husband, who has already been convicted twice as a felon.
Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, right, and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy during the national anthems at the Bab Azizia Palace in Tripoli on July 25, 2007.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (center left) arrives at the Paris court to receive the verdict in his appeal trial in the so-called Bygmalion case, on February 14, 2024.
According to the investigative news site Mediapart, Sarkozy himself told detectives in October: “My wife helps Mrs. Marchand while doing a favor for her friend so she can go on a trip.”
Sarkozy continued: ‘You ask me if Carla Bruni knew about the trip to Lebanon? Yes, I can’t deny it, but did she know that Mr. Takieddine was sentenced to prison? No. Did she know that he had escaped or that he was in Beirut? No.’
The flamboyant Takieddine is, like Marchand, someone who has numerous celebrity contacts and has even claimed to be Amal Clooney’s uncle.
During his appearance before the French courts in April 2014, Takieddine asked that a supervision order be lifted so that he could attend a party in London in honor of the marriage of his ‘niece’, then called Amal Alamuddin, to American actor George Clooney. .
Takieddine has cited his family relationship with Amal Clooney, who was born in Beirit, on several occasions since then, although Clooney has not confirmed this.
Sarkozy has been charged with corruption, “illicit financing of an election campaign”, “receiving embezzled public funds” and “criminal conspiracy” in connection with the Gaddafi scandal, and is due to stand trial next year.
Three of his former ministers – Brice Hortefeux, Claude Guéant and Éric Woerth – are also under investigation.
In January, Sarkozy failed to overturn a criminal conviction and prison sentence for illegally financing his re-election campaign.
His lawyers had asked the Paris Court of Appeal to revoke the one-year prison sentence, with six months suspended, but the judges ruled against it.
This followed a five-week trial at the city’s Correctional Court three years ago, when Sarkozy was found guilty of cooking the books during his failed bid to become head of state in 2012.
Sarkozy, who was president of France for five years until 2012, served his sentence wearing an electronic tag in the Paris home he shares with Bruni.
In March 2021, Sarkozy was also found guilty of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced to three years in prison, two of them suspended.
Sarkozy’s conservative predecessor as president of France, the late Jacques Chirac, received a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption, but this was related to his time as mayor of Paris.
The last French head of state to go to a prison cell was Marshal Philippe Pétain, the wartime Nazi collaborator.