Nicolas Sarkozy, Former President of France, Arrested

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France, was arrested on Tuesday, March 20, for investigations regarding potential financial assistance from the former Libyan leader to his election campaign. This is the second legal case that the 63-year-old Sarkozy is facing; judicial authorities are also pursuing separate investigations related to illegal expenditures during Sarkozy's 2012 election campaign. The former French president has called the allegations against him, particularly those related to Libya, 'atrocious' and denies them. Sarkozy served as President of France from 2007 to 2012 and has faced criticism regarding his connections with Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan president, since the early months of his presidency. Just months after taking office, Sarkozy hosted Gaddafi, allowing the Libyan leader to set up a tent in the style of Arab nomads next to the Élysée Palace during an official visit to France. Gaddafi brought over forty young female bodyguards to Paris during this trip. This was Gaddafi's first visit to meet a Western leader in decades and was accompanied by the signing of several commercial contracts. French authorities opened a case in 2013 to investigate the communications between the two leaders, motivated by a report in French media alleging that Libya paid 5 million euros (6 million dollars) to Sarkozy's election campaign. The report stated that a French-Lebanese businessman named 'Ziad Takieddine' received this amount from Abdullah Senussi, head of Gaddafi's intelligence service, and deposited it into the account of Sarkozy's campaign manager. According to French law, individual contributions to election campaigns should not exceed 4,600 euros. However, Sarkozy later became one of the main supporters of the NATO-led military intervention against Gaddafi's government, which resulted in Gaddafi's overthrow and death at the hands of rebels in 2011. Previously, in January, French authorities issued an arrest warrant for an individual named Alexander Jouhary in connection with the case of Gaddafi's financial assistance to Sarkozy, who was arrested in the UK. Mr. Jouhary's lawyer accused French authorities last month of 'politicizing' the case and claimed that the case against his client is 'fabricated.'