France: UK hands over scandal-mired businessman

PARIS

U.K. authorities have handed over a French-Algerian businessman to France, where he is wanted in a probe into illicit foreign funding of the 2007 campaign of former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

A key figure in the investigation, Alexandre Djouhri was relinquished to French officials on Thursday evening at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, after which he will appear before judges within 24 hours for the investigation into alleged Libyan funding for Sarkozy's presidential campaign.

Djouhri was initially arrested in January 2018 at Heathrow Airport in London on charges of corruption and embezzlement of public funds. He paid over €1.1 million ($1.2 million) in bail at the time but was subsequently placed under house arrest in London.

A primary point in the investigation is a payment by Djouhri of €500,000 to Sarkozy aid Claude Gueant to "use his position" to assist Djouhri in his "business affairs."

The probe also involves the 2008 sale of a villa in the southeastern French city of Mougins to a Libyan fund managed by Bachir Saleh, the former Libyan chief of staff under former leader Muammar Gaddafi. The villa was valued at €1.3 million, but sold at an "inflated price" of €10 million, according to court documents.

In the months after Gaddafi's ouster, Djourhi was also accused of assisting Saleh in boarding a private jet to Niger as he faced an arrest warrant in Libya.

The 60-year-old Djourhi is a resident of Geneva, Switzerland, and was previously involved in another scandal in 1981, in which he was arrested for the armed robbery of a jewelry store but was later released for lack of evidence.

Despite multiple charges against him, he claims that he is involved in a "judicial trap."