Gaddafi agreed to fund Sarkozy campaign: Report

Leftist French news website Mediapart on Saturday released the 2006 document that was in Arabic and was signed by Gaddafi's foreign intelligence chief Mussa Kussa.

The document referred to an "agreement in principle to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to 50 million euros."

Mediapart said the agreement followed a meeting on October 6, 2006, attended by Gaddafi's spy chief Abdullah Senussi, the head of Tripoli's African investment fund Bashir Saleh, close Sarkozy associate Brice Hortefeux and arms dealer Ziad Takieddine.

Last month, the website made a similar allegation based on testimony by a former doctor of a French arms dealer alleged to have arranged the campaign donation.

"If he had financed it, I wasn't very grateful," Sarkozy said sarcastically in response.

The French leader was referring to the role that France played in the NATO bombardment of Libya that led to Gaddafi's collapse last year.

This revelation comes as Sarkozy trails behind his rival Francois Hollande in opinion polls ahead of the second round of presidential elections on May 6.

Sarkozy was the French interior minister before the presidential election in 2007. Upon winning the election, he invited Gaddafi to France and let him set up his Bedouin tent close to the Elysée Palace in Paris. The French president also reportedly referred to Gaddafi as the “Brother Leader” at the time.