A French court has found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy in his trial over the alleged illegal financing of his successful 2007 presidential campaign with funds from the government of then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The Paris criminal court, however, acquitted the 70-year-old of all other charges, including illegal campaign financing and passive corruption, on Thursday.
The court is expected to sentence Sarkozy later in the day.
Sarkozy, who led France between 2007 and 2012 and retired from active politics in 2017, can appeal the guilty verdict, which would suspend any sentence pending the appeal.
Prosecutors have argued for a seven-year prison sentence.
Sarkozy was accused of making a deal with Gaddafi in 2005, when he was interior minister, to obtain campaign financing in exchange for supporting the then-isolated Libyan government on the international stage.
The former French president has denied the charges and said the case was politically motivated.
Deep roots
The court found Sarkozy guilty of criminal association, but cleared him of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealment of the embezzlement of public funds.
Two of Sarkozy’s closest associates when he was president – former ministers Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux – were also found guilty of criminal association but likewise acquitted of other charges.
Eric Woerth, Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign treasurer, was acquitted.
Judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy, as a serving minister and party leader at the time, had “allowed his close collaborators and political supporters over whom he had authority and who acted in his name”, to approach the Libyan authorities “in order to obtain or attempt to obtain financial support”.
The court, however, did not follow the conclusion of prosecutors that Sarkozy was the beneficiary of the illegal campaign financing.
The case traces its roots to 2011, when a Libyan news agency and Gaddafi himself said the Libyan state had secretly funnelled millions of euros into Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign.
In 2012, the French investigative outlet Mediapart published what it said was a Libyan intelligence memo referencing a 50-million-euro funding agreement. Sarkozy denounced the document as a forgery and sued for defamation.
Statements from seven former Libyan dignitaries, trips to Libya by Gueant and Hortefeux, financial transfers, and the notebooks of the former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who was found drowned in the Danube river in Vienna in 2012, were also presented in the case.
Prosecutors alleged that Sarkozy had knowingly benefitted from what they described as a “corruption pact” with Gaddafi’s government.
Libya’s longtime dictator was overthrown and killed by opponents in 2011 during the Arab Spring, as NATO military intervention – in which France under Sarkozy played a key role – enforced a no-fly zone.
Litany of legal problems
Sarkozy has faced a litany of legal problems since his mandate ended. He has been charged separately with corruption, bribery, influence-peddling and campaign finance infringements.
He was first convicted for corruption and sentenced to a one-year jail term, which he served with an electronic tag for three months before being granted conditional release.
Separately, he received a one-year jail term – six months with another six months suspended – in the so-called “Bygmalion affair” for illegal campaign financing. Sarkozy has gone to France’s top appeals court to appeal that verdict.
He has faced repercussions beyond the courtroom, including losing his Legion of Honour – France’s highest distinction – following the corruption conviction.
However, the former head of state continues to enjoy considerable influence and popularity in France’s right-wing politics, and is known to regularly meet with President Emmanuel Macron.