To obtain stable transfer performance by suppressing the interference of a destaticizing current in a transfer current in the case of destaticizing a recording medium and separating it from an intermediate transfer body after transferring a toner image from the intermediate transfer body to the recording medium.

While holding and feeding the recording medium S between an intermediate transfer belt 10 on which the toner image is carried and a paper transfer counter roller 22, the toner image is transferred from the belt 10 to the recording medium S by giving a fixed amount of current having the same polarity as the electrification polarity of the toner image from the back of the belt 10. A destaticizing needle 23 arranged proximately to the back of the recording medium on the more downstream side in the feeding direction of the recording medium than an area where the recording medium is held between the belt 10 and the roller 22 is made to discharge, so that the recording medium is destaticized and separated from the intermediate transfer body. In such a case, a spatial distance (a) between the discharge point of the needle 23 and the belt 10 is set longer than a spatial distance (b) between the discharge point of the needle 23 and the roller 22.