Sarkozy sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy in the Gaddafi financing case

BarcelonaAlready sentenced twice to prison terms for corruption and illicit campaign financing in 2012, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced this Thursday to five years in prison. This time, for criminal association, in the case of the alleged financing received from Libyan Rais Moammar Gaddafi for the campaign that led him to the Elysee Palace in 2007. The sentence can be appealed, but the former French president will still have to go to prison in the coming weeks.

Sarkozy has been acquitted of corruption, illegal campaign financing, and embezzlement of public funds because it could not be proven that money from the Gaddafi regime was used to finance the campaign. However, the court emphasized the "exceptional gravity" of the events and ordered—contrary to experts' predictions—that he be remanded in custody provisionally. The judge now has one month to inform the former president of his imprisonment date. He will be the first former French head of state to enter the case.

During a three-month trial, from January to April, the prosecution presented a "set of clues" based on witnesses from former Libyan officials, intercepted notes, and the confession of an obscure Franco-Lebanese mediator who prompted the opening of the case. This key intermediary in the prosecution, Ziad Takieddine, died in Beirut just two days ago. Takieddine was one of the defendants, in his case tried in absentia because he refused to appear.

Denying the Facts

In the process, The Prosecutor's Office demanded seven years in prison for Sarkozy and a fine of 300,000 euros, in addition to slightly lower amounts for two of his former ministers and other intermediaries. The former president denies the facts and made a point during the trial to emphasize that no trace has been found of the money allegedly paid by Tripoli in his campaign. An argument that did not seem to convince the president of the court, who warned that in cases of corruption, direct evidence is rarely found, but that the accumulation of clues can also lead to conviction.

At 70 years old, Sarkozy, who between February and May had to carry an electronic bracelet to guarantee the house arrest to which he was finally sentenced last December for another previous sentence, he has still not finished facing justice since his defeat against the socialist François Hollande in 2012.

But the sentence now imposed on him is higher, both due to the seriousness of the acts with which he is accused and the consequences of having received more money. contributed to overthrowing with a direct military intervention in 2011.

Removed from the political frontline, but still with enormous influence in the French conservative field, his high popularity could be eroded by a new judicial setback, in addition to the consequences that would come from knowing that his reputation is in danger.

For months, the prosecution developed a narrative of collusion between Sarkozy and the Libyan regime, which supposedly resulted in a "corruption pact" signed at a meeting with Gaddafi in Tripoli in 2005, when Sarkozy was Interior Minister. From there, the investigation and some media outlets uncovered a series of clues, including money transfers that gradually left a trail, with witnesses from former Libyan regime officials gathered after its fall in 2011.

They also revealed meetings between two of Sarkozy's close associates before he entrusted him with the Interior portfolio, and Brice Hortefeux, his best friend, who also held that same ministerial portfolio, with shady figures within the regime. One of them is Gaddafi's brother-in-law, Abdullah al-Senussi, an influential figure in the regime, who was serving a life sentence in France for the 1989 plane bombing that killed 170 people, 54 of them French. Among other evidence, the prosecution maintains that this proves the existence of the pact, fueled by the diaries found by banker Wahib Nacer, where he recorded the payments and which allowed investigators to follow his trail.

For the defense, this is a "hypothetical story" fabricated without evidence and which does not prove the existence of illegal financing. Sarkozy forcefully maintains his innocence, as he did in previous trials. In March 2021, he was sentenced to one year in prison for influence peddling and corruption, a sentence upheld two years later on appeal and by the Supreme Court last December, which required him to wear an electronic bracelet. In September 2021, he was sentenced to one year in prison for illegally financing his 2012 campaign. His sentence was halved on appeal, and the Supreme Court will rule on it next month. He is also accused of trying to silence Takieddine's witness, a case in which his wife, Carla Bruni, has also been implicated.