Overview
- In the Paris appeal retrial over alleged Libyan funding of Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign, Brice Hortefeux, questioned for hours on Wednesday, was pressed about his December 21, 2005 trip to Tripoli and a late-night meeting with Libyan intelligence chief Abdallah Senoussi.
- Hortefeux repeated that he was “trapped” into the encounter and denied asking for or receiving money, saying he went on an Interior Ministry invitation to validate security cooperation texts, including a letter of intent.
- Presiding judge Olivier Géron introduced the debated “Koussa note,” a 2006 memo published by Mediapart that mentions a €50 million pledge and lists Hortefeux among attendees, and Le Monde reported that the judge’s suggestion it could be genuine appeared to catch the former minister off guard.
- The court referenced Senoussi’s statement that Hortefeux handed over a bank-account number in Tripoli, a claim the defendant disputes as he maintains no payment discussion took place.
- This appeal re-examines a first-instance judgment that gave Hortefeux a two-year adjustable prison term for criminal conspiracy, and the death of alleged go-between Ziad Takieddine in September 2025 has removed a key figure in the network of contacts at issue.