The Libyan case, the largest and probably the most controversial involving ex-President Sarkozy, is due to continue until April 10, with the verdict expected at a later date.
The 69-year-old former politician is accused of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, receiving stolen property, embezzlement of public funds and criminal conspiracy, punishable by ten years in prison.
Mr. Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has denied any wrongdoing.
The trial concerns 11 other defendants, including three former ministers. Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, accused of playing the role of intermediary, fled to Lebanon and is not expected to appear before the Paris court.
Mr. Sarkozy awaits the hearings “with determination,” his lawyer Christophe Ingrain said in a statement.
“There is no Libyan financing of the campaign,” argued his lawyer. We want to believe that the court will have the courage to carry out an objective examination of the facts, without being guided by the vague theory which has poisoned the investigation.
Gaddafi’s alleged deal
The affair broke in March 2011, when a Libyan news agency reported that the Gaddafi government had financed Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign in 2007. In an interview, Mr. Gaddafi himself said: “It’s thanks to us that he arrived at the presidency. We provided him with the funds that allowed him to win.” He did not provide an amount or other details.
Mr. Sarkozy, who welcomed Muammar Gaddafi in Paris with honors in 2007, became one of the first Western leaders to call for military intervention in Libya in March 2011, when the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring swept the world Arab. Mr Gaddafi was killed by opposition fighters in October that year, ending his four decades of rule in the North African country.
The following year, the French online news site Mediapart published a document presented as a note from the Libyan secret services, mentioning Mr Gaddafi’s agreement to provide the Sarkozy campaign with funding of 50 million euros.
Nicolas Sarkozy strongly rejected these accusations, calling the document “fake” and filing complaints for falsification, concealment and dissemination of false news.
However, French investigating magistrates ultimately declared in 2016 that the document had all the characteristics of an authentic document, although there is no definitive proof that such a transaction took place.
The official cost of Mr Sarkozy’s campaign in 2007 was 20 million euros.
Witness tampering charges
French investigators scrutinized numerous trips to Libya made by people close to Mr. Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, between 2005 and 2007, including his chief of staff Claude Guéant. They also noted dozens of meetings between MM. Guéant and Takieddine, a key player in major French military contracts abroad.
The investigation gained momentum when Mr. Takieddine told the news site in 2016 Mediapart that he had delivered three suitcases from Libya containing millions in cash to the French Ministry of the Interior.
However, Mr. Takieddinne retracted his statements four years later.
Since then, a separate investigation has been opened into allegations of witness tampering, with magistrates suspecting an attempt to pressure Mr. Takieddine in order to exonerate former President Sarkozy. Mr. Sarkozy and his wife, ex-model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, were placed under preliminary examination, with financial prosecutors saying the former president was suspected of having “benefited from the corrupt influence” of Mr. Takieddine.
Eleven other accused
The other defendants are three former French ministers, including Mr. Guéant, and a former adviser close to Mr. Sarkozy.
Like Ziad Takieddine, the Franco-Algerian businessman Alexandre Djouhri is accused of having been an intermediary.
The case also concerns Mr. Gaddafi’s former chief of staff and treasurer, Béchir Saleh, who took refuge in France during the Libyan civil war and then settled in South Africa, where he survived a shooting in 2018, before moving to the United Arab Emirates.
Other defendants include two Saudi billionaires, a former Airbus executive and an ex-banker accused of playing a role in the alleged money transfers.
Mr. Gaddafi’s former oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, also suspected, was found dead in the Danube in Vienna in 2012 in unclear circumstances. French investigators were able to find Mr. Ghanem’s notebook, which allegedly documented payments made by Libya.
The head of the secret service and brother-in-law of Muammar Gaddafi, Abdullah al-Senoussi, told investigating judges that millions of dollars had indeed been paid to support the Sarkozy campaign. Accused of war crimes, he is now imprisoned in Libya.
Convicted in two other cases
Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted in two other cases, but the Libyan affair appears to be the one most likely to significantly affect his legacy.
The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court, last month upheld Mr Sarkozy’s conviction for corruption and influence peddling while he was head of state. He was sentenced to one year of house arrest with an electronic bracelet. The affair came to light as investigating judges listened to wiretapped telephone conversations as part of the Libya investigation.
In February last year, a Paris appeals court found Mr Sarkozy guilty of illegal campaign financing during his failed re-election bid in 2012.
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