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The source said: “The Information Division of the Internal Security Forces detained Taqi al-Din, based on a telegram received by Interpol’s discriminatory prosecutor’s office, which includes an arrest warrant, as he is wanted by the French authorities for his involvement in the corruption and financing of the Sarkozy campaign. “
Since April 2013, judges have been examining allegations that Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign had received funding for Libya, through French-Lebanese mediator Ziad Taqi al-Din and former Libyan officials.
On November 11, in a surprising event, Taqi al-Din retracted his statement, but the Financial Prosecutor’s Office considered that the charges against the former president “are not limited to the statements of the mediator.”
On March 21, 2018, an investigation was opened against Sarkozy on suspicions of “corruption”, “illegal financing of his electoral campaign” and “concealment of Libyan public funds”, and then, on October 12, 2020, “training of a criminal gang ”.
The investigations include former Elysee general secretary Claude Gueant and Eric Vert, Sarkozy’s former campaign finance chief.
Taqi al-Din, 70, fled to Beirut after being convicted in Paris in June in the financial aspect of the Karachi case related to arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Taqi al-Din played a key role in the past in relations between France and the Muammar Gaddafi regime. He has told French investigators since 2016 that between late 2006 and early 2007 he gave Sarkozy and his office director 5 million euros to finance Sarkozy’s presidential campaign. However, he withdrew his accusations in an interview with the French weekly Paris Match and the BFM-TV network last month.
Taqi al-Din was previously arrested for two weeks between October and November in Lebanon, in the context of a legal dispute with lawyer Hani Murad, who was assigned to manage his legal affairs after his arrival in Beirut before being fired. .
A human rights source, who declined to be identified, told the French News Agency that Taqi al-Din has been prosecuted in several financial cases in Lebanon, on charges of defamation, fraud and forgery, the latest of which is a criminal complaint filed by a partner against you on charges of dishonesty and fraud regarding a drug.
And if the charges contained in his file are proven against Taqi al-Din, Lebanon can try him in Lebanon as a Lebanese citizen or decide to extradite him to France.
