The French press has turned its attention again to the possible funding of Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign, in 2007, by Muammar Gaddafi.

This prickly affair was made public by Saif el-Islam el-Qaddafi, but his father opposed the disclosure of additional elements, being convinced that he could negotiate a peace agreement with Nicolas Sarkozy and should therefore avoid alienating him permanently.

However, in the five weeks preceding the fall of Tripoli, the Libyan government decided to gather the material elements of this case and several others (the sale of an aircraft to Michèle Alliot-Marie in Tunisia, the holidays of François Fillon’s staff in Egypt, the embezzlement of 400 million euros for the benefit of Cécilia Sarkozy in connection with the release of the Bulgarian nurses, and Dr. François Sarkozy’s medical experiments in Chad and Sudan).

Regarding financing of the 2007 election campaign, there is no written evidence linking the payments to the beneficiary, but mainly the audio recordings made systematically at each meeting.

According to the protagonists interviewed by Voltaire Network, funds for the 2007 campaign was not limited to helping Nicolas Sarkozy, but a portion was also earmarked for Ségolène Royal. In exchange, both candidates had pledged to obtain a case dismissal or an amnesty decree for Abdullah Senussi, head of intelligence and brother-in-law of the Libyan "Guide" Libyan, sentenced in absentia in France for the bombing of DC -10 UTA.

The different elements collected by the Libyan government were retained by the very canny Bashir Saleh Bashir, Muammar Gaddafi’s Chief of Staff. Arrested by the French during the fall of Tripoli, he was promptly released and temporarily put up in a big Parisian hotel. In December 2011, he left France and was later appointed Special Advisor to the President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou. Now that he now enjoys diplomatic immunity, he will be exempt from questioning by a French investigating judge.