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France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy is standing trial over allegations of having received millions of euros in illegal financing from Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential bid.
In arguably the largest of Sarkozy’s several scandals, the 69-year-old is charged with passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association. Investigators allege he made a corrupt pact with the Libyan government. At issue is a murky affair alleged to involve Libyan spies, a convicted terrorist, arms dealers and allegations Gaddafi provided Sarkozy’s campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases.
Sarkozy’s lawyer said the case against the former president was a fabrication and that there had been no Libyan financing of the campaign.
“After 10 years of investigation, with an unprecedented deployment of resources, wiretaps, judges traveling abroad, all over the world, there is – obviously – no trace of financing, no transfer, no payment, not even an amount for the alleged financing,” lawyer Christophe Ingrain said.
The former president, who served between 2007 and 2012, could face up to 10 years in prison. Sarkozy said nothing on his way into court, but has denied any wrongdoing.
Known as the “Libyan case”, the trial involves 11 other defendants including three former ministers.
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, said there is “no Libyan financing of the campaign”, which he won with 53 per cent of the vote to begin his five-year presidency.
Financial prosecutors say that in 2005, Sarkozy, then France’s interior minister, brokered a deal with Gaddafi, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the government on the international scene where it was isolated.
In 2011, Sarkozy put France in the forefront of Nato-led airstrikes against Gaddafi’s troops that helped rebel fighters topple his regime. Gaddafi was captured by rebels in October 2011 and killed.
That year, a son of Gaddafi’s – Saif-al-Islam Gaddafi – claimed to Euronews the Libyan state had donated up to €50 million to his campaign. Sarkozy had to “repay Libya the money he took for his election campaign,” he said.
In 2012, French investigative website Mediapart published what it said was a note from Libyan intelligence services dated Dec. 2006 and mentioning Gaddafi’s deal to help finance Sarkozy’s presidential bid with millions of euros.
But Sarkozy described the document as a “blatant fake” and filed complaints for forgery, concealment, and spreading false news. The official cost for his 2007 campaign was €20 million.
Investigative judges launched a probe in 2013.
The convoluted case, linked to nine other legal proceedings, and for which investigators sent cooperation requests to more than 21 foreign countries to track the alleged funding through various middlemen and companies, reaches court more than a decade later.
Among the 12 others facing trial in the case are Sarkozy’s former right-hand man Claude Gueant, former Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux and his then-head of campaign financing Eric Woerth – all three were present in court on Monday.
In December, France’s highest court upheld Sarkozy’s conviction for corruption and influence peddling to obtain favours from a judge. Sarkozy has been ordered to wear an electronic bracelet for a year instead of going to jail, a first for a French former head of state.
In another case, Sarkozy was found guilty of concealing illegal campaign spending, and a challenge is pending. He denies the charges.
