Wednesday, May 02, 2012
TRIPOLI (AFP)--Libya's ruling National Transitional Council Wednesday urged France to extradite a former regime official implicated in a letter agreeing to fund the French president's 2007 election campaign.
"We call on the French government to hand over Bashir Saleh, in line with the international notice issued by Interpol for fraud and criminal acts," NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil told a news conference.
Mediapart website last month posted what it said was a 2006 document signed by Moamer Gadhafi's foreign intelligence chief Mussa Kussa referring to an "agreement in principle to support the 2007 campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to 50 million euros."
But Abdel Jalil told the news conference that the letter--addressed to Saleh--appeared to be a fake.
"We think that the letter is fake," Abdel Jalil said.
The letter, which Sarkozy has dismissed as a "crude forgery", was addressed to Saleh, Gadhafi's former chief of staff and head of Libya's $40 billion sovereign wealth fund, who currently resides in France.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-05-12 1616GMT
