Ex-French leader Sarkozy on trial over alleged Gaddafi funds: All to know

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s trial allegedly began on Monday after allegations that the late Libyan leader’s regime had given him millions of euros in illegal election campaign funding.

All that we know about the trial is as follows:

What is the trial about?

The trial of the right-wing former president and 11 other people, including former ministers, comes after a 10-year anti-corruption probe.

The court will hear allegations that Sarkozy’s election campaign was co-sponsored by the Libyan government in exchange for favors on diplomatic, legal, and business matters.

The 69-year-old former leader faces charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association. If convicted, Sarkozy could face up to 10 years in prison.

Sarkozy was charged with witness tampering in France in October 2023, while Carla Bruni, his wife, model and singer, was also accused of hiding evidence in the same case.

The Gaddafi government’s financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign was first revealed in March 2011, according to a Libyan news agency.

In a recorded interview with broadcaster France 3 TV in 2011, Gaddafi reportedly said, “We gave him the funds that allowed him to win.”

Al Jazeera, however, has not been able to verify the veracity of the interview or the claims attributed to Gaddafi.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Gaddafi’s son, claimed that Sarkozy had obtained campaign funding from Libya in the same year. “The first thing we ask of this clown is that he return the money to the Libyan people,” he said. He let us down because we offered him assistance so we could assist the Libyan people.

Gaddafi was welcomed by Sarkozy in Paris’ Elysee Palace in 2007. Sarkozy was one of the first Western leaders to call for military action in Libya when pro-democracy protests for the Arab Spring broke out in 2011.

Gaddafi’s four decades of rule were ended by opposition forces supported by NATO’s forces in October 2011.

Sarkozy claimed that Gaddafi’s inner circle’s accusations of campaign financing were motivated by revenge for his support of the Libyan uprising.

In 2012, Mediapart, a French online news outlet, published a note reportedly from the Libyan secret services from December 2006. The note allegedly mentioned Gaddafi’s agreement to provide Sarkozy with 50 million euros ($52m at current rates) for campaign financing. Sarkozy claimed the document was fake, rejecting the allegations.

Businessman Ziad Takiedine, a former chief of staff to Sarkozy and his former boss, announced to Mediapart that he had delivered 5 million euros ($5.2 million) in cash from Libya in 2016. However, Takieddine retracted this statement in 2020.

The trial of Sarkozy is scheduled to last until April 10 for three months. A later date is anticipated for the verdict.

Who is Nicolas Sarkozy?

Sarkozy, 69, was the president of France between 2007 and 2012. In 2017, he took his break from active politics.

The liberal-conservative Republicans party was led by him until the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) emerged. With 53% of the vote, he defeated Socialist Party (PS) candidate Segolene Royal in the 2007 election.

Sarkozy has rejected the allegations of wrongdoing.

Sarkozy “is awaiting these four months of hearings with determination. He will contest the prosecution’s artificial construction. There was no Libyan financing of the campaign”, Sarkozy’s lawyer Christophe Ingrain said in a Sunday statement, according to AFP news agency.

We want to know that the court will have the guts to nudge the investigation’s nebulous theory away from the truth.

What are the other cases against Sarkozy?

In addition to these legal matters, Sarkozy has been found guilty.

Last month, the highest court in France, the Court of Cassation, upheld a 2021 conviction against Sarkozy of bribery and influence peddling. He was required to wear an electronic bracelet for the entire year while he was placed under house arrest. Sarkozy has stated that he will refer this matter to the European Court of Human Rights. During the Libyan financing investigation, a wiretapped phone call was used to reveal this case.

In another campaign finance case involving Sarkozy’s unsuccessful 2012 re-election bid, an appeals court in Paris upheld his conviction last year. He was accused of knowingly exceeding spending limits after losing to Francois Hollande from PS in the 2012 election. He was ordered to serve six months in prison and six months of a suspended sentence. The Court of Cassation has heard Sarkozy’s appeal against the ruling.

Are there other defendants?

Besides Sarkozy, there are 11 other defendants in the trial.

These include Takieddine, Claude Gueant, who is a former close aide of Sarkozy, Eric Woerth, Sarkozy’s former head of campaign financing, who now serves in parliament as a member of French President Emmanuel Macron’s party, and Brice Hortefeux, a former minister.

Source: Aljazeera