Nicolas Sarkozy returned to court this Monday, January 6 for an exceptional trial. The 69-year-old former head of state arrived at the Paris court around 1:30 p.m. Those around him say he is “combative” and “determined” to prove his innocence in the face of what he has always described as a “fable”. For four months, he will have to answer to accusations of illegal financing of his 2007 campaign by Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya.
This is the fifth trial in five years for Nicolas Sarkozy, convicted at first instance and on appeal in the Bygmalion case (on the financing of his 2012 campaign, a case in which he filed an appeal), and in the case Bismuth. After ten years of judicial and journalistic investigations, a certain number of elements support a supposed “corruption pact” between Gaddafi’s Libya and the Sarkozy clan in a complex affair where political, economic and diplomatic interests intertwine.
What are the charges?
The former president is accused of having entered into a “corruption pact” with the wealthy Libyan dictator who fell in 2011 at the end of 2005, notably with the help of his very close friends Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, so that he would “support” financially his accession to the Elysée. More precisely, he is appearing for “passive corruption, criminal conspiracy, illegal financing of an electoral campaign and concealment of embezzlement of Libyan public funds”. The accusation, brought by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), believes that the “corruption pact” was established in the fall of 2005 in Tripoli, under the tent of Muammar Gaddafi, known for being very generous with his foreign visitors. . Ambitious and high-profile Minister of the Interior, already thinking about the 2007 presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy was then officially on a visit devoted to illegal immigration. Unofficially, it was on this occasion that he asked the Libyan dictator for financial support for his future presidential campaign, according to several testimonies. The prosecution was unable to establish an exact total amount of the alleged financing. But after 10 years of investigation, a “body of evidence” convinced the investigating judges of the existence of this financial support.
The supposed counterparts? First an international rehabilitation: Gaddafi will be welcomed with great fanfare by Nicolas Sarkozy, newly elected president, during a controversial visit to Paris, a first in three decades. But also the signing of major contracts and a legal helping hand to Abdallah Senoussi, director of Libyan intelligence sentenced to life imprisonment in his absence in France for his role in the attack on the UTA DC-10 in 1989, which cost the lives of 170 people including 54 French. Around twenty relatives are civil parties to the trial.
Who are the other defendants?
In addition to Nicolas Sarkozy, twelve defendants are indicted, including three of his former ministers: Brice Hortefeux, Claude Guéant and Eric Woerth. They are suspected of having played intermediaries to obtain Libyan money. Eric Woerth, he is being tried as treasurer of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign in 2007, in which cash of unknown origin circulated according to investigators. He is thus accused of having used cash “to pay expense reports not reported in the campaign account, but also driver salaries, and more generally undeclared remuneration”. The three former ministers deny the accusations.
In addition, two businessmen suspected of having served as intermediaries will also be tried: Ziad Takieddine and Alexandre Djouhri. The first, currently on the run in Lebanon, is a Franco-Lebanese businessman close to the Balladurian and Chiracian networks, and the main accuser in this case, with evolving versions. Introduced into Libya a long time ago, it has long played the role of commercial intermediary on behalf of the regime. He claimed to have given five million euros between the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 to Claude Guéant, then chief of staff to Nicolas Sarkozy, before temporarily withdrawing his testimony at the end of 2020, which is still the subject of a separate investigation. The second, a Franco-Algerian businessman, was close to Bechir Saleh, Gaddafi’s chief of staff and big financier, and gradually established links with the former French president’s clan.
What is Nicolas Sarkozy’s defense?
Nicolas Sarkozy has always denied having received money from Colonel Gaddafi for his 2007 presidential campaign. From the first media revelations, mainly emanating from Mediapart, Nicolas Sarkozy denounces an “infamy”, carried by an “office serving the left ” and accuses the newspaper of having produced a false document. During a televised debate in 2016, he was offended by a journalist’s question about the affair: “What an indignity! It’s a shame!”
“He will fight the artificial construction imagined by the prosecution. There is no Libyan financing of the campaign,” declared his lawyer, Me Christophe Ingrain. His lawyers assure them that there is no trace of illegal financing in the campaign accounts, no proof and suggest a lie from the Gaddafi clan to take revenge for France’s intervention in Libya. To support this assertion, the team led by Me Christophe Ingrain intends to rely on previous legal proceedings carried out against his client. That of the Bettencourt affair, in which a dismissal of the charges was ordered for these identical accusations.
How long should the trial last?
After ten years of investigations, 54 searches, 22 appeals and 73 procedural volumes, the trial in the case of Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign in 2007 must last four months, until April 10. He is standing before the Paris Criminal Court.
The trial will begin with the appeal of the 12 defendants, civil parties and witnesses, before procedural questions, which should occupy the court throughout the first week. Hearings will take place on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons until April 10. According to his entourage, Nicolas Sarkozy will be present at each hearing during the first month, devoted to suspicions of financing. Additional aspects will be discussed in the following weeks.
What are the penalties incurred?
Tried for corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds, illegal campaign financing and criminal association, Nicolas Sarkozy faces 10 years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros, as well as deprivation of civil rights (therefore ineligibility) of up to ‘at 5 years old. Nicolas Sarkozy will appear for the first time with a criminal record, which could weigh against him in this case.
The former Minister of the Interior, Claude Guéant, risks ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 750,000 euros up to half the value of the property or funds on which the money laundering operations were carried out. Brice Hortefeux, ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros. And Eric Worth, one year of imprisonment and a fine of 3,750 euros.