Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has gone on trial over the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by Muammar Qaddafi.
The prosecutor alleges the candidate accepted millions of euros from Libya's former leader to bankroll his campaign.
On Monday, Mr Sarkozy's trial began in Paris and is scheduled to run until April 10 with a verdict expected at a later date. The 69-year-old is charged with passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association.
If convicted, Mr Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, may face 10 years in jail. He has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Christophe Ingrain, said his client is looking forward to the hearings “with determination”. “There is no Libyan financing of the campaign,” Mr Ingrain said. “We want to believe the court will have the courage to examine the facts objectively, without being guided by the nebulous theory that poisoned the investigation.”
The trial involves 11 other defendants, including three former ministers. A 12th defendant, Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who is accused of having played the role of intermediary, is believed to be in Lebanon and is not expected to appear at the Paris court.
Investigations began in March 2011, when a Libyan news agency reported that the Qaddafi government had financed Mr Sarkozy's 2007 campaign. In an interview, Qaddafi claimed that Mr Sarkozy's victory was due to financing from Libya. “It's thanks to us that he reached the presidency. We provided him with the funds that allowed him to win,” he said. However, he did not reveal any financial details.
Mr Sarkozy welcomed Qaddafi to Paris with great honours following his campaign but in March 2011, he became one of the first western leaders to push for a military intervention in Libya.
The next year, French online news site Mediapart published a document said to be a note from the Libyan secret services, mentioning Qaddafi's agreement to provide Mr Sarkozy's campaign with €50 million ($52 million) in financing. The official cost for Mr Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign was €20 million.
Mr Sarkozy strongly rejected the accusations, calling the document a “blatant fake” and filing complaints for forgery, concealment and spreading false news. However, French investigative magistrates eventually said in 2016 the document has all the characteristics of authenticity, although there is no definitive evidence that such a transaction took place.
French investigators scrutinised numerous trips to Libya made by people close to Mr Sarkozy, then the interior minister, between 2005 and 2007, including his chief of staff Claude Gueant. They noted dozens of meetings between Mr Gueant and Mr Takieddine, a leading player in major French military contracts abroad.
In 2016, Mr Takieddine told news site Mediapart that he had delivered three suitcases from Libya containing millions in cash to the French Interior Ministry. However, in 2020 he withdrew his claims. Since then, a separate investigation has been launched into alleged witness tampering over fears attempts had been made to pressure Mr Takieddine in order to clear Mr Sarkozy.
The other accused include three former French ministers, including Mr Gueant, and a former adviser close to Mr Sarkozy. Another defendant, Franco-Algerian businessman Alexandre Djouhri, is also accused of having been an intermediary.
Qaddafi was killed by opposition fighters ending his four decade rule and the case involves his former chief of staff and treasurer Bashir Saleh, who sought refuge in France during the Libyan civil war then moved to South Africa, where he survived a shooting in 2018.
Shukri Ghanem, Qaddafi’s former oil minister who was also suspected, was found dead in the Danube River in Vienna in 2012 in unclear circumstances. French investigators were able to find his notebook, which is believed to document payments made by Libya.
Qaddafi's spy chief and brother-in-law Abdullah Al Senussi, who is presently in prison in Libya accused of war crimes, has previously told investigative judges that Libya sent millions to support Mr Sarkozy's campaign.
Last month France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, upheld a conviction against Mr Sarkozy of corruption and influence peddling while he was the head of state. He was sentenced to one year under house arrest with an electronic tag.
In February last year, an appeals court in Paris also found Mr Sarkozy guilty of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid.
