The entourage of Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, assures that he is “combative” and “determined” to prove his innocence in the face of what he has always described as a “fable”.
He is accused, while he was Minister of the Interior, of having entered into a “corruption pact” with the wealthy Libyan dictator, so that he would “financially support” his accession to the French presidency.
Tried for corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds, illegal campaign financing and criminal conspiracy, 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 five years old.
“I am convinced of guilt” drawn “from hearings, witnesses, tracing of financial flows, elements of mutual assistance which were provided to us by 21 countries”, declared the financial prosecutor Jean-François Bohnert Monday on BFMTV/RMC.
“Our work is not political work,” he said: “we only have one compass, and that is the law.”
