The former head of state is expected at the Paris court on Monday afternoon, this time to answer, for four months and alongside three former ministers, to accusations of illegal financing of his 2007 campaign by Libya of Muammar Gaddafi.
Another trial for Nicolas Sarkozy: the former head of state is expected at the Paris court on Monday afternoon, this time to answer, for four months and alongside three former ministers, to accusations of illegal financing of its 2007 campaign by Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. The former president, 69, will be present for the opening of his trial at 1:30 p.m., assures his entourage, saying he is “combative” and “determined” to prove his innocence in the face of what he has always described as a “fable” .
The rest after this ad
The rest after this ad
Alongside him, twelve other defendants, including Claude Guéant, Brice Hortefeux and Eric Woerth. A trial which is based on ten years of an extraordinary investigation: 58 requests for international criminal assistance in 25 countries, six investigating judges, dozens of police officers mobilized…
A potentially false note
What emerges is the prosecution’s thesis according to which Nicolas Sarkozy financed his campaign with money from the Gaddafi regime in exchange for aid to help the dictator return to the international scene, a thesis which nevertheless seems fragile.
The rest after this ad
-The rest after this ad
Starting with the countless variations of Ziad Takieddine: no less than 14 different versions were given by this sulphurous Franco-Lebanese businessman who started the investigation. He put forward a figure of 400 million euros, the total of Libyan money which would have financed Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign according to him. However, and this is another gray area of the investigation, the courts only put forward an amount of 250,000 euros in bonuses paid in cash to UMP employees.
No suspicious bank movements according to investigators
Where would the rest have gone? The bank accounts of Nicolas Sarkozy, his successive wives and his mother’s estate were examined. For investigators, there is no suspicious banking movement concerning him, no personal enrichment. Finally, the central document of this investigation was shattered: it is the Libyan note published by Mediapart.
The rest after this ad
The rest after this ad
This text, attributed to the Libyan intelligence services, reports a so-called agreement from the Gaddafi clan to the tune of 50 million euros to finance the campaign. Except that this document has never been authenticated. The investigators estimated that there was even a high probability that it was a fake. The trial of Nicolas Sarkozy and the 12 other defendants is scheduled to last until April 10.
Related News :