Suspicions of Libyan financing –
“Not a cent” of Libyan money in his campaign, Sarkozy swears at his trial
The former tenant of the Élysée swore during his first speech this Thursday before the Paris court that he had “nothing” to reproach himself for.
Published today at 7:42 p.m.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) arrives at the Palais de Justice in Paris for the opening hearing of his trial for accepting illegal election campaign financing as part of an alleged pact with Libyan dictator Moamer Gaddafi.
AFP/Thibaud MORITZ
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“Not a cent” of Libyan money: Nicolas Sarkozy swore for his first speech in court at the trial of suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign that he had “nothing” to reproach himself for, and that there was “nothing” in the file.
The first to take the stand, the former president begins by solemnly declaiming: “Ten years of slander, 48 hours of police custody, 60 hours of interrogation.”
10 years of investigation
In total, he says, “10 years of investigation” where “we went around the Earth” to hear various witnesses and look for evidence. And in the end, “what did we find? Nothing,” he loses his temper several times.
“Nothing concerns me,” specifies the former head of state, who is being tried alongside 11 people, including the three former ministers Claude Guéant, Brice Hortefeux and Éric Woerth. The latter is absent from today’s hearing.
With the help of the first two, his close friends, Nicolas Sarkozy is accused of having made a secret “corruption pact” in 2005 with the wealthy Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, so that he could finance his victorious campaign in the 2007 presidential election.
In a dark suit, white shirt and black tie, he speaks in a loud voice for around fifteen minutes, making large gestures and calling on his audience to witness.
He immerses himself, tremolos in his voice, in the general context of the time: his discussions “with Barack Obama”, the former American president, his “pride” in having “saved” the Bulgarian nurses in 2007, then the military intervention in Libya voted at the UN.
Three “categories of scammers”
For him, there are three “categories of crooks” in this matter: firstly the elders of the “Gaddafi clan”, who were the first to raise the hypothesis of Libyan financing just before the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, chased out by rebels notably supported by France which he led.
He then attacks “those who created” the Libyan note evoking a financing agreement worth 50 million euros, published by Mediapart, during the period between the two rounds of the 2012 presidential election – “What a strange coincidence!” A “gross fake”, he insists again.
And finally the sulphurous Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine – accused at the trial but on the run – and his “16 versions” during the investigation. “I don’t know why this individual pursues me with such tenacious hatred.”
“The money from corruption is largely absent from this trial and for a simple reason: there is no money from corruption because there was no corruption of the candidate,” insists the former head of state. “There’s reason to be angry,” he justifies between two outbursts.
Prison and ineligibility
Tried until April 10 for corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds, illegal campaign financing and criminal conspiracy, Mr. 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 five years.
The former tenant of the Élysée (2007-2012), 69 years old, assures the president of the court Nathalie Gavarino that he will answer “all questions”. “As I have always done, I have always assumed my responsibilities and I intend to do so during these four months” of hearing, adds the one who begins his fifth trial here in five years.
“I want two things, the truth and the law, if that’s not a bad word, the law,” he squeaks.
“I trust”
“I have no score to settle and certainly not with the institution of which I know that part of it violently fought me when I was president. Naive or enthusiastic, I trust,” finally assures Nicolas Sarkozy, who has regularly implicated magistrates by name in the multiple legal proceedings targeting him.
Brice Hortefeux gets up in turn. “After 12 years of investigation,” he echoes, “there is nothing. I tell you with great weariness and great anger, nothing justifies my being here before you.”
The former right-hand man of the head of state, Claude Guéant, promises to “defend himself step by step”. “I have said it a hundred times, I will say it again today, I have never benefited from Libyan money, I have never requested Libyan money, I have never seen Libyan money circulating” , said the octogenarian. “The corruptive pact never existed.”
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