A Paris court convicted former French president Nicolas Sarkozy of criminal conspiracy Thursday in connection with alleged illegal campaign financing from Libya's late leader Muammar Gaddafi, sentencing him to five years in prison, ABC News reported.
The 70-year-old former president, who led France from 2007 to 2012, was cleared of other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzled public funds, and criminal association, according to ABC News. Sarkozy is expected to file an immediate appeal, which would suspend the sentence during the appeals process.
Prosecutors alleged that Sarkozy struck a corrupt agreement with Gaddafi's regime in 2005, while serving as France's interior minister, to secure campaign funds for his 2007 presidential campaign. In return, prosecutors claimed, Sarkozy agreed to help rehabilitate Libya's international standing at a time when the country faced diplomatic isolation, according to ABC News.
The case centers on allegations that the Libyan government secretly transferred millions of euros to Sarkozy's campaign through suitcases of cash delivered to Paris. The allegations first surfaced in 2011, when both a Libyan news agency and Gaddafi himself claimed Libya had covertly financed Sarkozy's electoral victory.
According to ABC News, French investigative publication Mediapart added fuel to the controversy in 2012 by publishing what it described as a Libyan intelligence document detailing a 50 million-euro funding arrangement. While Sarkozy dismissed the document as fraudulent and filed defamation charges, French magistrates subsequently determined the memo appeared genuine, though definitive proof of the money transfer remains elusive.
The investigation examined multiple trips to Libya by Sarkozy's associates during his tenure as interior minister between 2005 and 2007. Key testimony came from Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who initially told Mediapart in 2016 that he personally transported cash-filled suitcases from Tripoli to the French interior ministry. Takieddine later withdrew these claims, ABC News reported.
His reversal prompted a separate investigation into potential witness tampering, resulting in preliminary charges against both Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. That case has yet to proceed to trial. Takieddine, who was among 11 co-defendants in the current case, died Tuesday in Beirut at age 75. He had fled to Lebanon in 2020 and did not participate in the trial.
Throughout the three-month proceedings, Sarkozy maintained his innocence, characterizing the charges as a politically motivated conspiracy orchestrated by what he called "liars and crooks," including members of the "Gaddafi clan." He argued the allegations represented retaliation for his role in calling for Gaddafi's ouster during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, when he became one of the first Western leaders advocating military intervention in Libya. Gaddafi's 40-year rule ended with his death during Libya's 2011 uprising. "What credibility can be given to such statements marked by the seal of vengeance?" Sarkozy asked during the trial, according to ABC News.
The verdict marks Sarkozy as the first former French president convicted of accepting illegal foreign campaign contributions. His legal troubles extend beyond this case. In June, authorities stripped him of France's Legion of Honor medal following a separate conviction for corruption and influence peddling, ABC News reported.
That earlier case involved attempts to bribe a magistrate in 2014 for information about another legal matter. Sarkozy received a sentence requiring him to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for one year, though he secured conditional release in May due to his age, removing the device after approximately three months.
Additionally, Sarkozy was convicted last year of illegal campaign financing in his unsuccessful 2012 reelection campaign, allegedly spending nearly double the legal limit. He received a one-year prison sentence with six months suspended. That verdict is under appeal to France's highest court.
