The trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and 12 other persons begins in France on Monday accused of illegal financing of the presidential campaign, embezzlement of public funds and bribery. TASR informs about it according to the reports of the agencies DPA, AP and AFP.
Sarkozy, who was in the presidency from 2007 to 2012, is accused of receiving millions of dollars in illegal campaign financing from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The former French president denies the accusation. The former French president is in addition to illegal campaign financing, according to AP also accused of passive corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association.
Together with Sarkozy, 12 other persons are accused, among them former French ministers Claude Guéant, Éric Woerth and Brice Hortefeux.
After a 10-year anti-corruption investigation, the court will deal with allegations of what investigators called a “corruption pact” between Sarkozy and the Libyan regime. Middlemen allegedly delivered suitcases full of cash to ministry buildings in Paris to illegally finance Sarkozy’s winning presidential campaign in 2007, writes The Guardian. The court will examine whether the Libyan regime demanded diplomatic, legal and business benefits in exchange for financing Sarkozy’s presidential campaign.
In connection with the large-scale investigation of the so-called Libyan affair, France has requested legal assistance from 21 countries. Sarkozy faces ten years in prison and a large finewrites the DPA agency, according to which the court could also award 10-year prison sentences to several co-defendants. The trial will last until April 10.
Ex-president’s lawyer Christophe Ingrain stated that there was no Libyan financing of the campaign. “We want to believe that the court will have the courage to objectively examine the facts without being guided by a vague theory that has poisoned the investigation,” he said in a statement, AP writes.
Sarkozy has already appeared in court on various other charges. On December 18, the French Supreme Court upheld the verdict against Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling. The court sentenced him to one year of house arrest. AFP reported that Sarkozy had still not been fitted with an electronic bracelet on his ankle, a process that could take several weeks, and the ex-president spent the Christmas holidays in the Seychelles.
