PARIS — The highest court in France confirmed the corruption conviction of former President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, adding to his extensive list of legal troubles over recent years. Another trial is scheduled to commence next month that will investigate alleged Libyan financial support for his presidential campaign in 2007.
At the age of 69, Sarkozy served as the French president from 2007 until 2012 and has consistently denied any involvement in wrongdoing. He stepped away from active politics in 2017.
One of the major controversies surrounding Sarkozy is the wiretapping scandal. The Court of Cassation has upheld a decision from an appeals court, affirming Sarkozy’s guilt concerning corruption and influence peddling during his presidency. He has been sentenced to a year in prison but is likely to request home confinement with an electronic monitoring device, as permitted by French law. Sarkozy has indicated his intention to escalate the matter to the European Court of Human Rights. Initially convicted in 2021 by a court in Paris, the verdict was reconfirmed by an appeals court in 2023, centered on his attempts to bribe a magistrate for confidential information regarding a case involving himself.
As for the alleged Libyan financing, Sarkozy and 12 others are set to face trial in January 2025. They are accused of accepting millions in illicit funds from the regime of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi during Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign. Sarkozy has been under scrutiny in this matter since 2013, facing charges including passive corruption, unlawful campaign financing, embezzlement of Libyan public resources, and criminal association. Investigators are looking into claims that Gadhafi provided Sarkozy with a staggering sum of 50 million euros (approximately $52.3 million) for his campaign, significantly exceeding the legal funding cap in place then and violating regulations against foreign campaign contributions.
The investigation gained new momentum in 2016 when Ziad Takieddine, a French-Lebanese businessman, alleged that he transported suitcases of cash from Libya to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff. Although Takieddine later recanted his statements, Sarkozy sought to halt the investigations. After being elected president in 2007, Sarkozy received Gadhafi in elaborate fashion, but later led France’s involvement in NATO airstrikes that contributed to the fall of Gadhafi’s regime in 2011.
Recent developments also include accusations against Sarkozy of witnessing tampering. In the previous year, French judges filed preliminary charges against him for allegedly attempting to mislead legal authorities in the Libya financing inquiry. Prosecutors allege that he may have sought to influence Takieddine, the key witness in the case. Further complicating matters, Sarkozy’s wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, faced preliminary charges themselves in July, regarding alleged efforts to intimidate Takieddine into withdrawing his accusations. Bruni-Sarkozy is currently under judicial supervision, which restricts her from contacting individuals involved in the investigation, except for her husband.
Earlier in February, Sarkozy was convicted in a separate ruling for illegal campaign financing concerning his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2012. The Paris appeals court upheld this judgment, sentencing him to one year in prison, with six months suspended. Reports allege that he spent approximately 44 million euros, nearly double the legal cap of 22.5 million euros, during his campaign against Socialist candidate Francois Hollande, whom he ultimately lost to. Sarkozy’s legal team has sought to appeal this sentence.