A Paris court on Thursday convicted former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on charges of criminal conspiracy in connection with allegations that late Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi helped finance his 2007 presidential campaign.
The court, however, acquitted Sarkozy of corruption, embezzlement, and accepting illegal campaign funds.
Sarkozy, 70, who led France from 2007 to 2012, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He has already been convicted in two other cases and was stripped of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest distinction.
Presiding judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy, as a minister and party leader at the time, “allowed his close collaborators and political supporters over whom he had authority and who acted in his name” to engage with Libyan officials to secure financial support.
Prosecutors had requested a seven-year prison sentence, though sentencing is expected later in the hearing. Sarkozy attended the verdict alongside his wife, singer and former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Two of his close allies were also convicted:
- Claude Gueant, his former chief of staff, was found guilty of passive corruption and falsification.
- Brice Hortefeux, a former minister, was convicted of criminal conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Eric Woerth, Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign treasurer, was acquitted.
The ruling came just two days after the sudden death in Beirut of Ziad Takieddine, a Franco-Lebanese businessman and key accuser who had previously claimed to have delivered up to €5 million ($6 million) in cash from Kadhafi to Sarkozy’s team. Takieddine, 75, later retracted his claims, only to contradict himself again, sparking a separate witness tampering investigation involving Sarkozy and his wife.
Prosecutors argued that Sarkozy struck a deal with Kadhafi in 2005 to illegally fund his presidential bid in exchange for helping the Libyan leader rehabilitate his international image. France, under Sarkozy, later played a central role in the 2011 NATO-led intervention that toppled Kadhafi.
The case draws on testimony from former Libyan officials, financial records, Sarkozy aides’ visits to Tripoli, and the notebooks of ex-Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who was found dead in the Danube in 2012.
Sarkozy, once known as France’s “hyper-president,” still wields influence within conservative politics and maintains a close relationship with President Emmanuel Macron.
Despite his legal battles—including convictions for graft and illegal campaign financing—he has vowed to “fight to the end” to clear his name.
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