THE SON OF LIBYAN LEADER Muammar Gaddafi has claimed that his country helped fund French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s election campaign in 2007.

In an interview with Euronews, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi said Sarkozy would have to return the money, given his government is now the first to officially recognise the opposition council.

Gaddafi said Libya funded Sarkozy’s campaign and was prepared “to reveal everything” about it.

The first thing we want this clown to do is to give the money back to the Libyan people. He was given assistance so that he could help them. But he’s disappointed us: give us back our money. We have all the bank details and documents for the transfer operations and we will make everything public soon.

A spokesperson for Sarkozy’s office in Paris has denied the claims.

Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign funding is already a hot topic in France, where an investigation involving allegations L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt donated money to the campaign illegally has been underway for months.

Push for Benghazi

France is among the UN Security Council members pushing for a no-fly resolution to be imposed on Libya.

The resolution is being discussed by the Security Council today after receiving strong endorsement from the Arab League. Lebanon is the Security Council’s only Arab member.

Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi said today that pro-government forces were nearing the eastern rebel-held city Benghazi and “everything will be finished” in 48 hours. He said that the “traitors” who had fought against the government should leave and would be granted safe passage over the border to Egypt.

Haaretz reports that rebels in Misrata, 200km east of Tripoli, say Gaddafi forces have attacked the city with heavy tank and artillery bombardments. A senior Libyan official said the government hopes to have regained control over all rebel-held areas “in a matter of days”.

Watch the video of Gaddafi’s interview with Euronews >

- Includes additional reporting from the AP