Lawyers for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy say they will take legal action against a businessman, Ziad Takieddine, over allegations that deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi bankrolled his 2007 election campaign.
Mr Sarkozy is now seeking a return to power and is seen as a serious contender to win his party’s nomination.
In a filmed interview released on Tuesday by the news website Mediapart, Mr Takieddine said he had transferred about $5.4m (£4.3m) “in three suitcases” from Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi to Mr Sarkozy and his then campaign director Claude Gueant.
Mr Sarkozy has previously denied the allegations and this time one of his lawyers Thierry Herzog said legal proceedings would be launched to rebut the claims.
In a statement to the Reuters news agency, Mr Herzog accused Mediapart of manipulation:
Once more, and always before an election, Mediapart is trying to taint Nicolas Sarkozy with allegations (that are) as untrue today as they were yesterday.”
France’s public prosecutor opened a judicial investigation into earlier allegations by Mr Takieddine in 2013.
However the businessman had not previously described how the money was transferred or directly named Mr Sarkozy, Reuters reported.
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