Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to stand trial on charges of receiving illegal funding from late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi during his 2007 presidential campaign.
According to The Telegraph , Mr. Sarkozy is accused of receiving a suitcase of illegal funding, about 50 million euros, from the government of the late Libyan leader Gaddafi. The case is considered the most controversial case as it is the first time a former French head of state has been charged with conspiracy to commit crimes with a foreign government since World War II.
If convicted, Mr Sarkozy could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The trial comes as France's top court upheld a one-year house arrest sentence for Mr Sarkozy in a separate corruption case.
Former French President Sarkozy accused of receiving suitcase of money from leader Gaddafi
The case stems from a more than ten-year investigation, which was led by investigative news site Mediapart, which published a series of documents in 2012. After a 10-year anti-corruption investigation, the court will hear allegations of what investigators call a "corruption pact" between Mr Sarkozy and the regime in Libya.
According to the investigation, Mr. Ziad Takieddine, a French-Lebanese arms broker, told prosecutors that he was the intermediary who introduced former French President Sarkozy to the late Libyan leader Gaddafi. He then directly transported many suitcases of cash from Libya to France to finance Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears in court in Paris on January 6, 2025
Politico quoted prosecutors as saying that the money was illegally transferred into the French financial system through intermediaries and there were signs of money laundering to conceal the illegal origin of the transaction. The court will now consider whether the Libyan regime demanded diplomatic , legal and business favors in exchange for funding Mr. Sarkozy's presidential campaign.
According to The Guardian, the historic trial of the former French president and 12 others, including three former French ministers, for a large-scale conspiracy to receive money from a foreign leader threatens to seriously undermine voter confidence in French politics at a time when voter confidence is already at a low. All defendants deny the charges.
Former French President Sarkozy has denounced the allegations as “the prosecutor’s fantasy” and part of a conspiracy against him, insisting he never received any campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Gaddafi. Mr Sarkozy has said there is no evidence of any such transfer.
This is the third criminal case Mr. Sarkozy has faced since leaving the Elysee Palace in 2012. Previously in 2021, he was sentenced to one year in prison for deliberately exceeding spending limits during his 2012 presidential campaign.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/former-president-of-phap-ra-toa-vi-vu-be-boi-va-li-tien-cua-lanh-dao-libya-gaddafi-185250107085337239.htm
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