- Mediapart reports Moammar Gadhafi contributed 50 million euros ($66.3 million)
- Election frontrunner Francois Hollande calls for a criminal investigation
- President Nicolas Sarkozy has dismissed the allegation as "grotesque"
- The two men face a run-off vote for the presidency on May 6
(CNN) -- The campaign of French presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande called Saturday for a criminal investigation into President Nicolas Sarkozy after a media report accused the president of taking 50 million euros ($66.3 million) for his 2007 campaign from then-Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
Mediapart, a French online magazine, claimed in its report to have a Gadhafi government document, detailing an agreement to fund the campaign. The alleged document, dated December 10, 2006, states that then-Libyan intelligence chief Moussa Koussa authorized secret payments to Sarkozy through an intermediary, Mediapart reports.
CNN was not immediatley able to confirm the authenticity of the published document.
Sarkozy has dismissed the allegation as "grotesque."
"If he (Gadhafi) had funded (my campaign), frankly, I would not have been very grateful," he said during a television interview aired by TF1 last month.
France supported the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya that helped to topple the longtime leader. Gadhafi was ousted in a civil war last year and then killed. His one-time heir apparent, Saif al-Islam was captured by Libya's new authorities and is awaiting trial.
"When one quotes Mr. Gadhafi, who is dead, or his son, who is standing trial, the credibility is zero. And when you drag up their accounts with these questions you are asking, you quite degrade this political debate," Sarkozy said in the interview.
But Hollande's campaign is calling for Sarkozy to come clean.
"The fact that these revelations take place within days of the second round of the presidential election is not sufficient to demonstrate that they are 'grotesque'. It is now up to justice to reveal the truth: either establish the facts and prosecute, or otherwise provide proof that these are false allegations," said Hollande spokeswoman Delphine Batho.
Hollande and Sarkozy face a run-off vote for the presidency on May 6. Sarkozy, who leads the center-right UMP party, received 27.2% of the vote in the first round of voting, just behind Hollande's 28.6%. Hollande is a member of the center-left Socialist party.
If elected, Hollande would be France's first left-wing president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995. Sarkozy has been president since 2007.
The two contenders are expected to take part in their first head-to-head televised debate on Wednesday.
