© File photoLibya’s former Prime Minister Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi is currently in detention in Tunisia.
A lawyer for Libya's former Prime Minister Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi confirmed on Thursday that Gaddafi contributed over 50 million euros to Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.
Mahmudi is now reportedly in detention in Tunisia.
Earlier, the leftist French journal Mediapart published documentary evidence about the controversial funding source.
The report said of an agreement signed after an October 6, 2006 meeting attended by Gaddafi's spy chief Abdullah Senussi, the head his African investment fund Bashir Saleh, close Sarkozy associate Brice Hortefeux and arms dealer Ziad Takieddine.
It claimed the 2006 document -- allegedly signed by Gaddafi's former intelligence chief and later foreign minister Moussa Koussa -- were obtained "from the archives of the secret service" through former senior Libyan officials currently in hiding.
Sarkozy refuted the document as "crude forgery" and has lodged a lawsuit against the whistleblower website.
The allegations can seriously dash re-election hopes for Sarkozy, who lost the first round of presidential election to his Socialist rival Francois Hollande, given the French electoral rules that strictly ban politicians from receiving campaign contributions from foreign states.
The latest revelation by the Gaddafi ally comes as debates between Sarkozy and heat up ahead of the May 6 presidential runoff.
The Socialist hopeful has already called for an inquiry into suspected ties between Sarkozy and the former Libyan ruler.
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