Sarkozy is accused of trying to influence judiciary in the case of illegally receiving millions from Libyan Dictator Gaddafi and Billionaires.
The trial of Former French president Sarkozy for attempting to bribe a judge and influence the hearing in a case of illegally receiving millions of euros begins on Monday, 23rd November. France24 reports that though Sarkozy is not the first modern French head of state on trial, he is the first to face corruption charges. His predecessor and political mentor Jacques Chirac was convicted of embezzlement of public funds. Sarkozy was French President from 2007 to 2012.
The case dates back to 2014 after investigators from the Parquet National Financier (National Financial Prosecutor’s Office) tapped Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog’s phones over allegations the former president had illegally received millions of euros from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt to fund his 2007 presidential campaign. Incidentally, Sarkozy had won the 2007 elections to become the President of France.
The leaked conversations between Sarkozy and Herzog made investigators suspect the former French leader had offered to use his contacts to get the senior judge Gilbert Azibert a coveted position in Monaco, in exchange for information about the investigation into the illegal receipt of money.
Sarkozy and Herzog have defended themselves by claiming that the taps on their phones as a breach of client-attorney privilege. But in 2016 a top court upheld their use as evidence.
Prosecutors accuse Sarkozy’s team of using a fake-invoices scheme orchestrated by the public relations firm Bygmalion to spend nearly 43 million euros on his Presidential campaign, which is nearly twice the legal limit. The investigators say that these millions of Euros were funded by Billionaires like L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and also by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi who was seen as being close to Sarkozy.
If found guilty of charges which include bribery and influence peddling, Sarkozy risks a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a maximum fine of one million euros ($1.2 million). Herzog, a leading member of the Paris bar, faces the same charges as well as that of violating professional secrecy. The trial is expected to last three weeks.
In his defense, Sarkozy claims that the French judiciary have been waging a vendetta against him as payback for his attempts to limit judges’ powers and telling them they were being too soft on delinquents while he was President.
The accusation and legal wrangles which started in 2014, ensured that his comeback bid in 2017 was scuttled. He announced his retirement from politics in 2018 despite claiming that he was framed and is innocent of all charges.
Sarkozy – Gaddafi Links
In March 2018, Sarkozy was taken into police custody to be questioned over allegations that he received millions of Euros in illegal election campaign funding from Gaddafi’s regime. In April 2012, the investigative website Mediapart published a document which was purportedly signed by a senior Libyan figure stating the regime approved a payment of €50m to “support” Sarkozy’s election campaign.
In 2016, Ziad Takieddine, a wealthy French-Lebanese businessman who was close to Gaddafi’s regime, told Mediapart in 2016 that he had personally delivered suitcases stuffed with cash from the Libyan leader as payments towards Sarkozy’s campaign.
When Sarkozy became the French president in 2007, he invited Gaddafi to France for a state visit and welcomed him with high honours. However, Sarkozy then put France in the forefront of Nato-led airstrikes against Gaddafi’s troops that helped rebel fighters topple his regime in 2011.
Soon after the airstrikes in March 2011, Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi told Euronews: “Sarkozy has to give back the money he accepted from Libya to finance his electoral campaign. We financed his campaign and we have the proof … The first thing we’re demanding is that this clown gives back the money to the Libyan people.
Another French businessman Alexandre Djouhri, was suspected by investigators of funneling money from Gaddafi to finance Sarkozy’s campaign. These allegations have not been proved by the French prosecutors till date. Further, the main accuser, Ziad Takieddine, later retracted his claim of Gaddafi funding Sarkozy’s campaign.
Shobhil Shrivastava 
Aayush Pal