The former interpreter of the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi has disclosed that Libya helped finance Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign in France during Gaddafi’s tenure in office as the leader of Libya.

Moftah Missouri was quoted by reporters as saying that Gaddafi personally told him that an amount of $20m were donated to the campaign office of Sarkozy to help fund his campaign.

The Le Figaro newspaper in France reported that Mr. Missouri had made the same allegation against Mr. Sarkozy when he visited Paris in April 2012.

The paper quoted him as saying that: “Gaddafi himself told me personally, verbally, that Libya had transferred about $20m to Mr. Sarkozy office.”

This is the second time an allegation of this type is being made against Nicolas Sarkozy by Gaddafi’s inner circle members or people who were close to him.

Gaddafi’s first son first made this allegation against Mr. Sarkozy and the matter is already under investigation by Libyan and French officials.

Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi’s first son, first accused Mr. Sarkozy of taking millions of his father’s money for campaign funding during the Nato-led air strikes on Libya in 2011.

Mr. Sarkozy, who was the then President spearheaded France’s presence in the Nato-led military campaign which eventually contributed to the death of Gaddafi.

A French inquiry which opened this year was due to look at charges of active and passive corruption against Mr. Sarkozy which an anonymous source from the French government told the Associated Press that the investigation is likely to include this latest allegation.

Mr. Sarkozy has however denied the previous allegation saying the inner circle of Gaddafi just want to implicate him for no apparent reason.

Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebels with the assistance of NATO bombardment as he tried to flee his birthplace of Sirte during Libya’s political uprising in October 2011.

Mr. Sarkozy lost the 2012 presidential election to Francois Hollande who is a socialist and since then, controversial issues have been emerging against Mr. Sarkozy.

Mr. Sarkozy has previously hinted that he may consider another run for the presidency in 2017, but the outcome of these investigations could determine whether he will make a return to politics or not as it will be a campaign message against him.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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