Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years in jail after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to millions of euros of illicit funds from the late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 euros (£87,000).
The Paris criminal court acquitted him of all other charges, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing.
The 70-year-old, who was president of France from 2007 to 2012, said the verdict was “extremely serious for rule of law” claiming the case was politically motivated.
Criminal Conspiracy
Sarkozy was accused of using the funds from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign in exchange for helping Gaddafi combat his reputation as a pariah with Western countries.
Judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy had allowed close aides to contact Libyan officials with a view to obtaining financial support for his campaign but ruled that there was not enough evidence to find Sarkozy was the beneficiary of the illegal campaign financing.
The investigation was opened in 2013, two years after Saif al-Islam, son of the then-Libyan leader, first accused Sarkozy of taking millions of his father’s money for campaign funding.
The following year, Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine – who for a long time acted as a middleman between France and the Middle East – said he had written proof that Sarkozy’s campaign bid was “abundantly” financed by Libya, and that the €50m (£43m) worth of payments continued after he became president.
Among the others accused in the trial were former interior ministers, Claude Gueant and Brice Hortefeux. The court found Gueant guilty of corruption, among other charges, and Hortefeux was found guilty of criminal conspiracy.
