Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted in this case, in particular for “passive corruption, illegal financing of electoral campaigns and concealment of Libyan public funds”.
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) requested on Wednesday May 10 the referral to the criminal court of Nicolas Sarkozy, in the sprawling case known as the “Libyan financing” of his electoral campaign in 2007, as well as 12 other suspects, learned franceinfo from sources familiar with the case Thursday, May 11.
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In a press release published Thursday evening, the PNF asks that Nicolas Sarkozy be tried for “concealment of embezzlement of public funds, passive corruption, illegal financing of electoral campaign and association of criminals with a view to committing an offense punishable by 10 years of imprisonment” . Qualifications for which he had been indicted. On October 24, 2022, the PNF confirmed that the investigating judges in charge of the investigation had completed their investigations. Now it is up to them to say whether Nicolas Sarkozy should be sent to court.
Ten years of investigation
The PNF also asks that the former ministers of Nicolas Sarkozy Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, as well as Eric Woerth, be tried on trial. The national financial prosecutor’s office also wants the sulphurous businessman Ziad Takiedine, the former senior civil servant Thierry Gaubert and the intermediary Alexandre Djouhri to be tried. For Brice Hortefeux, the PNF wants him to be tried for “criminal association with a view to committing an offense punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment and complicity in the financing of an electoral campaign”. The PNF demands a trial for Eric Woerth for “complicity in the illegal financing of an electoral campaign”.
As for Claude Guéant, the counts of requisition for dismissal are more numerous: “Use of forgery, laundering of tax evasion in an organized gang, passive influence peddling, laundering of passive corruption, complicity in illegal financing of electoral campaign, concealment of passive corruption and associations of criminals with a view to committing an offense punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment”.
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This final indictment comes after ten years of investigation. This investigation started in particular from a document published by the Mediapart site in 2012, with a handwritten note in Arabic. This note was attributed to the head of Libyan foreign intelligence. She suggested that in 2006, the regime of Muammar Gaddafi had agreed to finance the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy to the tune of 50 million euros.
The investigations led the magistrates to Libya, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Malaysia… Tens of thousands of pages of procedures were written and 13 people indicted. Nicolas Sarkozy was first indicted in March 2018 for “passive corruption, illegal financing of electoral campaigns and concealment of Libyan public funds”. He was indicted a second time in 2020 for criminal association. Two months later, Claude Guéant and another ex-minister, Brice Hortefeux, were in turn for the same offence.
The former head of state challenged his indictment, but at the end of 2021 the Court of Cassation dismissed the last procedural appeal filed by Nicolas Sarkozy and his relatives. The former President of the Republic has always denied the facts of which he is suspected.
Decision on appeal Wednesday in the “wiretapping” case
In the “wiretapping” case, the Paris Court of Appeal will render its decision May 17. Nicolas Sarkozy, his lawyer Thierry Hergog and ex-magistrate Gilbert Azibert are on trial for corruption and influence peddling. The prosecution requested a three-year suspended prison sentence for the three defendants.
Regarding the Bygmalion case, Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal trial will be held from November 8, 2023. The former President of the Republic had appealed his sentence to one year in prison.