French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will bring charges against a news website for claiming that late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi had offered to give him $50 million to help finance his first presidential bid.
French website Mediapart reported Saturday that it had obtained a 2006 Libyan document signed by Libya's then-intelligence chief, Moussa Koussa, with the offer.
Sarkozy told France Television Two Monday that the claim was grotesque, and said he would file a lawsuit before the end of the current presidential campaign.
Sarkozy spearheaded Western military intervention that helped drive the Libyan leader from power in a 2011 popular uprising.
France will hold a runoff election Sunday, with Sarkozy trailing socialist candidate Francois Hollande in opinion polls. Hollande emerged as the frontrunner in the April 22 first-round vote, edging the incumbent with 28 percent of the vote to Sarkozy's 27 percent.
French President to Sue Website for Defamation
French President Nicolas Sarkozy (C), UMP party candidate for re-election in the 2012 French presidential elections, waves as he arrives to Chateaurenard before a campaign rally in Avignon, France, April 30, 2012.