France's ex-leader Nicolas Sarkozy told he must go to prison over Libya funding case

Paris court sentences former president to five years in jail after finding him guilty of criminal conspiracy

Nicolas Sarkozy, left, president of France from 2007-2012, and his wife Carla Bruni, arrive at the courthouse in Paris before Thursday's crushing verdict. AP

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was on Thursday sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy over accusations the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi helped fund his victorious 2007 presidential run.

Sarkozy, who has always denied the charges, was accused of making a deal with Qaddafi to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.

In a major surprise, the judge told the 70-year-old politician that even if he appealed the verdict, he should still be incarcerated. Should Sarkozy go to prison, he would be the first president in the history of modern France to do so. He was also fined €100,000 ($117,400) and banned from holding public office.

Sarkozy said after the verdict he was the victim of scandalous injustice and hatred that “has no limits”. He said he would appeal against the decision, which "undermined confidence in the French justice system". He would "sleep in prison with my head held high", he said.

The Paris court ordered that Sarkozy should be placed in custody at a later date, with prosecutors given one month to inform the former head of state when he should be put behind bars.

He was convicted in a case concerning allegations his winning campaign was covertly bankrolled by millions of euros from the late Muammar Qaddafi’s regime in exchange for diplomatic favours.

Sarkozy, who was present in court, was acquitted on three other charges, including passive corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealment of the embezzlement of public funds.

Sarkozy has already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France's highest honour.

The court also found two of Sarkozy’s closest associates when he was president – former ministers Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux – guilty of criminal association but likewise acquitted them of some other charges.

The verdicts appeared to suggest the court believed the trio had conspired to seek Libyan funding for Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign but that judges were not convinced the conservative leader himself was guilty of then putting the scheme in place.

The court said it could not determine with certainty that Libyan money ended up financing Sarkozy’s campaign. Still, under French law, a corrupt scheme can still be a crime even if money was not paid or cannot be proven, the court explained.

In an hours-long reading of the verdict, chief judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy allowed his close associates to reach out to Libyan authorities “to obtain or try to obtain financial support in Libya for the purpose of securing campaign financing”. The disgraced former president stood as she read out the verdict.

His wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was present in the courtroom as were his three adult sons.

Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, a key accuser of Sarkozy in the case, died on Tuesday in Beirut.

Mr Takieddine had claimed several times that he helped deliver up to €5 million ($5.8 million) in cash from Qaddafi to Sarkozy and the former president's chief of staff in 2006 and 2007.

Sarkozy, who was took office in 2007 but lost his bid for re-election in 2012, denied all wrongdoing during a three-month trial earlier this year that involved 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers.

Despite several legal scandals clouding his presidential legacy, Sarkozy remains an influential figure in right-wing politics in France and in entertainment circles, by virtue of his marriage.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy shakes hands with a police officer before the verdict was announced. AP

Alleged Libya financing

The roots of the accusations can be traced back to 2011, when a Libyan news agency and Qaddafi himself said the Libyan state had secretly funnelled millions of euros into Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign.

In 2012, the French investigative outlet Mediapart published what it said was a Libyan intelligence memo referencing a €50 million-funding agreement. Sarkozy denounced the document as a forgery and sued for defamation.

French magistrates later said the memo appeared to be authentic, though no conclusive evidence of a completed transaction was presented at the three-month Paris trial.

Investigators also looked into a series of trips to Libya made by people close to Sarkozy when he served as interior minister from 2005 and 2007, including his chief of staff.

Prosecutors alleged Sarkozy had knowingly benefited from what they described as a “corruption pact” with Qaddafi’s government.

Libya’s long-time dictator was toppled and killed in an uprising in 2011, ending his four-decade rule of the North African country.

The trial shed light on France’s back-channel talks with Libya in the 2000s, when Qaddafi was seeking to restore diplomatic ties with the West. Before that, Libya was considered a pariah state.

Sarkozy had dismissed the allegations as politically motivated, reliant on forged evidence. During the trial, he denounced a “plot” he said was staged by “liars and crooks” including the “Qaddafi clan.”

He suggested the allegations of illegal campaign financing were retaliation for his call – as France’s president – for Qaddafi’s removal.

Sarkozy was one of the first Western leaders to push for military intervention in Libya in 2011.