Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France, has been handed a five-year prison sentence for his involvement in a “criminal conspiracy” linked to the laundering of approximately $50 million originating from the late Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The Paris Correctional Court determined that funds from Gaddafi’s regime were instrumental in financing Sarkozy’s political campaign. This verdict concluded a three-month-long trial that wrapped up in April and implicated 11 other individuals, including three ex-ministers who served under Sarkozy.
While Sarkozy was cleared of charges related to “receiving stolen public funds” and “passive corruption,” he received the harshest penalty for conspiring with former officials, notably his ex-chief of staff Claude Guéant, aged 80, who was convicted of “passive bribery, forgery, and influence peddling.” The presiding judge emphasized that any appeal lodged by Sarkozy would not delay the enforcement of his prison term. He has been granted up to one month to prepare for incarceration and was allowed to leave court on September 25. Additionally, Sarkozy faces a €100,000 fine, with the commencement date of his imprisonment yet to be finalized.
Claude Guéant was sentenced to six years behind bars; however, the court acknowledged his advanced age and poor health, deeming imprisonment unsuitable. He was also fined €250,000. Another former minister, Brice Hortefeux, received a two-year sentence with an electronic monitoring bracelet.
This landmark ruling marks the first occasion a former French president has been convicted for attempting to secure foreign funds to support an election campaign. Judge Nathalie Gavarino described Sarkozy’s offenses as “exceptionally grave,” stating that he permitted his close circle to solicit financial backing from the Libyan government. Hortefeux, 67, was also found guilty of participating in the criminal conspiracy.
Prosecutors demonstrated that Sarkozy’s inner circle utilized Gaddafi’s money to bankroll the 2007 presidential campaign. Throughout the proceedings, Sarkozy vehemently denied the allegations, dismissing accusers as “liars and crooks” and asserting, “You will never find a single cent from Libya in the campaign.” Nevertheless, evidence revealed a corrupt agreement between Sarkozy and Gaddafi, who ruled Libya until his death in 2011.
Key evidence included a note from the late Lebanese arms dealer Ziad Takieddine-who was related by marriage to human rights lawyer Amal Clooney-indicating that he routinely delivered suitcases filled with cash to Sarkozy’s aides. Takieddine, aged 75, was found dead in Beirut recently and was considered the main intermediary in the laundering operation. Although he was a defendant in the trial, he remained at large in Lebanon, a country that refuses to extradite its nationals.
It is estimated that Sarkozy accepted close to $50 million from Libya, a nation eager to rehabilitate its international image after being stigmatized for incidents such as the Lockerbie bombing, which resulted in 270 fatalities when Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed over Scotland in 1988.
This conviction adds to Sarkozy’s legal troubles, as he has previously been definitively found guilty of bribing a judge in a separate case and of illegal campaign financing in another matter.
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