Thirteen defendants, ten years of investigation, 73 volumes of files… The sprawling case of suspicion of Libyan financing of the 2007 presidential campaign finally comes before the courts on Monday January 6. The most publicized of the defendants, Nicolas Sarkozy, is expected from 1:30 p.m. at the Paris criminal court. The former head of state, 69, must appear for four months, three days a week, alongside former ministers and sulphurous intermediaries, on charges of illegal financing of his victorious campaign by the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Accusations that he has denied outright since the revelation of the affair in 2012. Follow our live stream.
A “corruption pact” at the heart of the accusation. Nicolas Sarkozy is accused of having spent, at the end of 2005, notably with the help of his very close friends Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, a “corruption pact” with the extremely wealthy Libyan dictator so that he “support” financially his accession to the Elysée. Tried for corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds, illegal campaign financing and criminal association, he faces ten 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.
A “fable”, according to Nicolas Sarkozy. The former president, who is facing his fifth trial, persists in saying that this affair is a “fable”. If this funding had existed “so massively”, “Why is there no proof of this? Not even a beginning?” he said during an interrogation. The judges recognized in their order for reference that there was no “irrefutable proof” but one “clue bundle”. Definitively convicted in the so-called “wiretapping” affair, Nicolas Sarkozy should be placed under an electronic bracelet in a few weeks.
Twelve other defendants tried. Nicolas Sarkozy is suspected of having allowed “perfect knowledge of the facts” his relatives for recovery of the money. Four members of his close guard at the time are therefore sent back to his side, Claude Guéant, Brice Hortefeux, Eric Woerth and Cédric Gaubert. The latter, according to the judges, “organized” and received “fund transfers” from Libya, via intermediaries Ziad Takieddine and Alexandre Djouhri. The first, on the run in Lebanon, should be tried in absentia. On the Libyan side, only the regime's former financier, Bachir Saleh, is referred to French justice. Targeted by an arrest warrant, he should also be tried in his absence.
