French prosecutors demand Sarkozy face trial over alleged Libya money
French prosecutors have demanded that the former president Nicolas Sarkozy face a new trial over alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign.
France’s financial crimes prosecutors (PNF) said on Thursday that Sarkozy and 12 others should face trial over accusations they sought millions of euros in financing from the regime of the then Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, for his ultimately victorious campaign.
Sarkozy, who has been embroiled in legal troubles since leaving office, is accused of corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealing the embezzlement of public funds, the prosecutors said in a statement. He has always rejected the charges.
The prosecutors’ call for a trial is not the final decision on whether the process will go ahead, with investigating magistrates having the last word on a case that has been open since 2013.
Among the others facing trial in the case are heavyweights such as Sarkozy’s former righthand man Claude Guéant; his then head of campaign financing, Éric Woerth; and the former minister Brice Hortefeux.
The rightwing Sarkozy, who won the 2007 elections but then lost in 2012 to the Socialist party’s François Hollande, has been convicted twice in separate cases since leaving office.
The ex-president will on 17 May hear the decision of the court of appeal in a case of wiretapping, in which he was sentenced at first instance to three years in prison – two of them suspended – for corruption and influence-peddling.
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He will be retried from November 2023 on appeal in the so-called Bygmalion case, in which he was sentenced to one year in prison at first instance.
Even if the sentences are confirmed, he is not expected to serve any time in prison in those cases. He has always rejected all the charges.
Despite the legal problems, the man who styled himself as the “hyper-president” while in office still enjoys considerable influence and popularity on the right of French politics.