Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of criminal association in his trial for the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign with money from the government of then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in exchange for diplomatic favors.
However, the court cleared him of three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealment of the embezzlement of public funds.
Sarkozy, accompanied by his wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was present in the courtroom, which was also filled with reporters and members of the public. Sarkozy sat in the front row of the defendant’s seats. His three adult sons were also in the room.
Sarkozy, 70, was the President of France from 2007 to 2012. He claims the case is politically motivated.
He was accused of using the funds from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign. In exchange, the prosecution alleged Sarkozy promised to help Gaddafi combat his reputation as a pariah with Western countries.
Sarkozy, who was elected in 2007 but lost his bid for reelection in 2012, denied all wrongdoing during a three-month trial earlier this year that also involved 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.
Judge Nathalie Gavarino said that Sarkozy had allowed close aides to contact Libyan officials with a view to obtaining financial support for his campaign.But the court ruled that there was not enough evidence to find Sarkozy was the beneficiary of the illegal campaign financing.
The court also found two of Sarkozy’s closest associates when he was president — former Ministers Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux — guilty of criminal association but likewise acquitted them of some other charges.
The accusations trace their roots to 2011, when a Libyan news agency and Gadhafi himself said the Libyan state had secretly funneled millions of euros into Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign.
In 2012, the French investigative outlet Mediapart published what it said was a Libyan intelligence memo referencing a 50 million-euro funding agreement.
Sarkozy denounced the document as a forgery and sued for defamation. The court ruled today that it “now appears most likely that this document is a forgery.”
Prosecutors alleged that Sarkozy had knowingly benefited from what they described as a “corruption pact” with Gadhafi’s government.
Sarkozy Gets 5-year Jail Term
Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy.
The ruling means that he will spend time in jail even if he appeals. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros (£87,000).
Sarkozy could be sent to prison in Paris in the coming days – a first for a former French President and a humiliating blow for a man who has always protested his innocence in this trial and the other legal cases against him.
Since losing his re-election bid in 2012, Sarkozy has been targeted by several criminal investigations.
In June, Sarkozy was stripped of his Legion of Honor medal — France’s highest award — after his conviction in a separate case.
Earlier, he was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling for trying to bribe a magistrate in 2014 in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated.
Sarkozy was sentenced to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for one year. He was granted a conditional release in May due to his age, which allowed him to remove the electronic tag after he wore it for just over three months.
In another case, Sarkozy was convicted last year of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 reelection bid. He was accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount and was sentenced to a year in prison, of which six months were suspended.
Sarkozy has denied the allegations. He has appealed that verdict to the highest Court of Cassation, and that appeal is pending
Despite multiple legal scandals that have clouded his presidential legacy, Sarkozy remains an influential figure in right-wing politics in France and in entertainment circles, by virtue of his marriage to Bruni-Sarkozy.
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