Three former ministers, including Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, both serving at the Ministry of the Interior, will have to take the stand during this bitter trial.
New meeting with justice for Nicolas Sarkozy. The former President of the Republic is expected at the Paris court on the afternoon of Monday, January 6, this time to respond, for four months and alongside three former ministers, to accusations of illegal financing of his campaign. 2007 by Muammar Gaddafi's Libya.
The former president, 69, is on trial for “illegal financing of an electoral campaign”, “passive corruption”, “concealment of embezzlement of public funds” and “criminal association”.
He is accused of having made a pact with Muammar Gaddafi in order to finance his campaign, and of having subsequently learned of the various negotiations between his relatives and those close to the dictator to bring in money for his campaign in exchange for different considerations. .
Nicolas Sarkozy faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of 375,000 euros, ban on civil rights (including the right to vote or eligibility), and from holding public office.
He will be present for the opening of his trial at 1:30 p.m., assures those around him, saying he is “combative” and “determined” to prove his innocence in the face of what he has always described as a “fable.” However, Nicolas Sarkozy is not the only one to appear in this sprawling affair since in total, thirteen men are on trial. BFMTV.com draws up the list of suspects called to appear.
The Sarkozy Clan
• Claude Guéant. The former Minister of the Interior maintained very close ties with the intermediary Ziad Takieddine and met Libyan dignitaries on several occasions. He received 500,000 euros from the sale of two paintings to a Malaysian lawyer, the value of which was estimated a posteriori at 50,000 euros, an operation considered by investigators as personal enrichment, paid through different front companies.
• Brice Hortefeux. Also a former Minister of the Interior, he is accused of having also been in contact with Ziad Takieddine within the framework of secret negotiations. When his indictment was announced in 2020, he expressed “his total surprise and stressed that “an indictment in no way presupposes guilt.”
• Eric Woerth. For his part, the former Minister of Labor is accused of having passed on cash within the UMP by paying certain employees with envelopes, outside of any accounting. According to him, these cash came from donations from anonymous activists.
• Thierry Gaubert. The former close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy is suspected of having received 440,000 euros from the Libyan regime, to then fuel the campaign. In his diary, investigators found an entry “NS campaign” a month before the transfer, even though he was officially no longer in contact with Nicolas Sarkozy at that time.
Intermediaries
• Alexandre Djouhri. This Franco-Algerian intermediary, who can also be described as a suspected corruption agent, is at the head of one of the two alleged corruption networks between France and Libya. In particular, he sold his villa in Mougins at an overvalued price to Libya.
• Ziad Takieddine. Franco-Lebanese intermediary who should be absent from the trial, who can also be described as an alleged corruption agent, is at the head of one of the two alleged corruption networks between France and Libya. He has long been one of the main accusers, claiming that he transported suitcases of cash between Libya and the offices of Claude Guéant. He is on the run in Lebanon.
L’ex-cadre d’Airbus
• Edouard UIlmo. He is accused of a retrocession of money to Alexandre Djouhri after the sale of twelve Airbuses to Gaddafi.
The Gaddafi Clan
• Wahib Nacer. This Franco-Djiboutian banker is accused of financial transactions involving Djouhri, Guéant and the Bughsan accounts.
• Ahmed Saleb Bughsana Saudi whose accounts were allegedly used to move money.
On the other hand, several suspects may be absent from this Paris trial.
•Bechir Saleh. Gaddafi's chief of staff, who oversaw the operation to buy Djouhri's Mougins villa at an inflated price, is on the run abroad. He had been exfiltrated to France.
• Khaled Bughsan. A Saudi whose accounts were allegedly used to transfer money.
• Siva Rajendra. A Malaysian lawyer, now missing, benefited from a suspicious transfer of 500,000 euros from Khaled Bughsan a week before buying for the same sum two paintings from Claude Guéant, actually valued at 50,000 euros.
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, he filed an appeal), and in the Bismuth case.
In this last case, known as “tapping”, his appeal was rejected in mid-December, making his sentence to one year in prison under an electronic bracelet definitive, an unprecedented sanction for a former president.
Pauline Revenaz with Hugo Septier
