Sarkozy, convicted in the Bismuth affair, is still awaiting several decisions in other cases

POLITICS – Next. The Court of Cassation rejected Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal in the wiretapping case on Wednesday, December 18, making his sentence to one year in prison under an electronic bracelet for corruption and influence peddling final. An unprecedented sanction for a former head of state.

In this case, called “Bismuth”, the “ex” of the Élysée was found guilty of having established in 2014, alongside his historic lawyer Thierry Herzog, a “corruption pact” with Gilbert Azibert, senior magistrate at the Court of Cassation, so that he can transmit information and try to influence an appeal filed in another procedure, the Bettencourt affair.

In reaction this Wednesday, the former President of the Republic explains that he wants to continue fighting “the deep injustice » which is made to him. He confirms having seized the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), convinced of “ stay within your rights ”, and said “ total determination on this issue as on the others. » Because Nicolas Sarkozy is not done with justice. Far from it.

Suspicions of Libyan financing

Definitively convicted in the wiretapping affair, the former head of state still has several crucial cases and deadlines ahead of him. He must first return to the Paris correctional facility, at the beginning of January, for the opening of the trial into suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign, after a decade of investigations.

To summarize, the former tenant of the Élysée, who vigorously contests any infraction, is suspected of having “knotted” with the wealthy dictator Muammar Gaddafi “a pact of corruption” for the financing of his presidential campaign against Ségolène Royal, and for having allowed “perfect knowledge of the facts” his loved ones for “obtain financial support from the Libyan authorities”. This, in exchange for a return to diplomatic respectability.

In the dock, alongside several former ministers – including Claude Guéant and the current Macronist deputy Éric Woerth – Nicolas Sarkozy faces 10 years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros in this case. The court can also impose up to five years of ineligibility. Note that Thierry Herzog, historical lawyer of the former head of state, will not be able to defend him. The decision of the Court of Cassation rendered this Wednesday makes effective its ban on wearing the black dress for the next three years.

Bygmalion affair

The former President of the Republic is also awaiting a court decision concerning his second presidential campaign, that of 2012, lost to François Hollande. Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on appeal on February 14, 2024 for illegal campaign financing to one year of imprisonment including six months under an electronic bracelet. A sentence less than that of one year which was handed down at first instance, in September 2021.

At issue: a system of false invoices linking the UMP (ancestor of LR), the party of the former president and the communications agency Bygmalion, responsible for organizing meetings and other costly events, to hide the overrun (of 20 approximately million euros) of the legal ceiling for authorized campaign expenses.

As with the wiretapping affair, Nicolas Sarkozy also appealed to the Court of Cassation. A first step was taken on November 20, with the non-transmission of the priority question of constitutionality (QPC) that he raised. The date for examining the appeals on the merits has not yet been set.

Takieddine’s retraction

That’s not all. The former President of the Republic was also indicted in October 2023 (like his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy) for “concealment of witness tampering” et “criminal association with a view to preparing organized gang trial fraud” in the investigation into possible fraudulent maneuvers to rule out suspicions of Libyan financing. The case cited above.

The operation (called “Save Sarkozy” by one of the other accused) would have notably consisted of obtaining the retraction of the accusations of the sulphurous Franco-Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine in exchange for possible remuneration. In a video broadcast in particular by BFMTV, the man in question returned to his statements before the judges according to which he gave Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as his relatives, 5 million euros of Libyan money for the campaign. 2007.

Justice suspects ten protagonists of having participated in this operation, including the queen of the paparazzi Mimi Marchand and the intermediary Noël Dubus, already convicted of fraud.

Preliminary investigations

In addition to these three cases, Nicolas Sarkozy is also the subject of several preliminary investigations into other files. His lucrative consulting activities in Russia, for example, are still of interest to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) for possible influence peddling. According to Mediapart, which revealed the information, a preliminary investigation was opened in the summer of 2020. It aims to determine whether Nicolas Sarkozy “ allegedly engaged in potentially criminal lobbying activities” on behalf of Russian oligarchs.

Since 2019, justice has also been investigating the controversial award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. At the heart of the suspicions is a lunch held in 2010 between Nicolas Sarkozy, then President of the Republic, two senior Qatari leaders and Michel Platini, at the time head of UEFA. In this case, the Anticor association filed a complaint in April 2023 against the former President of the Republic for “influence peddling” et “corruption of a foreign public official”.

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