French first lady denies her foundation received public money

Jan 7, 2012, 11:33 GMT

Paris - French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has denied allegations published by a French magazine on Saturday that her foundation received millions of dollars from The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Marianne news weekly reported that the Geneva-based Global Fund paid 3.5 million dollars into Bruni's foundation 'towards the philanthropical activities of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and several agencies belonging to one of her close friends.'

The magazine said the payments were carried out 'with disregard for normal procedures.'

Bruni-Sarkozy, who is a Global Fund ambassador, denied the allegations in a statement on her foundation's website.

'The insinuation that funds were raised through public partners is entirely unfounded,' she said.

'No public money was ever received by the foundation,' she insisted.

The Global Fund - the world's largest financier of programmes to fight AIDS, which is mainly funded by Western governments - said it had not 'paid a centime to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's foundation.'

The Marianne article was 'inexact and misleading,' the fund was quoted by French media as saying in a statement.

The fund explained it had spent 2.8 million dollars on a campaign in 2010 against mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus, which Bruni-Sarkozy had supported.

Part of the budget had been used to cover Bruni-Sarkozy's travel costs, when she was travelling for the fund, and towards a page on her foundation's website that was dedicated to the Global Fund.

An independent audit of the campaign had found that 'all the Global Fund's rule had been respected,' the statement said.

Bruni-Sarkozy, a folk singer and former supermodel, established her foundation in 2009 to combat adult illiteracy and support access to education and culture. She also regularly speaks about HIV/AIDS.

Since 2009, the foundation has raised nearly 8 million euros (10.2 million dollars), of which half had been spent on 'aid on the ground,' her statement said.