Nicolas Sarkozy (AP photo)
A Paris court on Thursday convicted former French president Nicolas Sarkozy of criminal conspiracy, while acquitting him of corruption and illegal campaign financing in the trial over allegations that late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi helped fund his successful 2007 presidential campaign.The trial adds to a series of legal troubles for the 70-year-old right-wing ex-leader, who denies all charges.Judge Nathalie Gavarino stated that Sarkozy, “as a serving minister and party leader at the time, had allowed his close collaborators and political supporters over whom he had authority and who acted in his name, to approach the Libyan authorities in order to obtain or attempt to obtain financial support.”However, the court did not accept prosecutors’ argument that Sarkozy was the direct beneficiary of the illegal campaign funds. He was acquitted of separate charges, including embezzlement of Libyan public funds, passive corruption, and illegal financing of an electoral campaign.Two former close aides were also convicted: former right-hand man Claude Gueant was found guilty of passive corruption and falsification, while former minister Brice Hortefeux was convicted of criminal conspiracy. Eric Woerth, Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign treasurer, was acquitted.
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In a dramatic twist, the ruling came just two days after the death in Beirut of Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, a key accuser who had claimed multiple times that he delivered up to five million euros ($6 million) in cash from Kadhafi to Sarkozy and his chief of staff in 2006–2007. Takieddine had later retracted his claims, only to contradict his retraction, prompting another investigation into Sarkozy and Bruni-Sarkozy on suspicion of pressuring a witness.Prosecutors maintained that Sarkozy and his aides struck a pact with Kadhafi in 2005 to illegally fund his victorious 2007 campaign. Investigators say Kadhafi was promised help in restoring his international image following Libya’s alleged role in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and a 1989 attack over Niger. Kadhafi was ultimately overthrown and killed during the 2011 Arab Spring, after NATO imposed a no-fly zone with France under Sarkozy playing a key role.The prosecution relied on statements from seven former Libyan officials, trips to Libya by Gueant and Hortefeux, financial transfers, and the notebooks of former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who drowned in the Danube in 2012.Sarkozy has faced a series of legal battles since leaving office, including convictions for graft and illegal campaign financing in the Bygmalion affair, for which he served part of his one-year jail term with an electronic tag before conditional release. He has appealed those verdicts. He also lost the Legion of Honour, France’s highest distinction, following the graft conviction.Despite these legal challenges, Sarkozy, once known as the “hyper-president”, retains considerable influence and popularity on the right of French politics and continues to meet regularly with President Emmanuel Macron.
