Sarkozy faces trial over alleged campaign funding from Gaddafi

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will stand trial on Monday over claims that his 2007 presidential campaign was illegally funded by the government of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, 69, is facing charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealing embezzlement, and criminal association, which could lead to up to 10 years in prison. He denies all charges.

The so-called “Libyan case,” the biggest and possibly most shocking of several scandals involving the former president, is scheduled to run until April 10, with a verdict expected at a later date.

The case emerged in March 2011 when a Libyan news agency claimed Gaddafi’s government had financed Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign.

In an interview, Gaddafi himself said “It’s thanks to us that he reached the presidency. We provided him with the funds that allowed him to win,” without providing any amount or other details.

Sarkozy, who had welcomed Gaddafi to Paris with great honours in 2007, became one of the first Western leaders to push for military intervention in Libya in March 2011, when Arab Spring pro-democracy protests swept the Arab world.

Gaddafi was killed by opposition fighters in October that same year, ending his four-decade rule of the North African country.

The next year, French online news site Mediapart published a document said to be a note from the Libyan secret services, mentioning Gaddafi’s agreement to provide Sarkozy’s campaign with €50 million in financing.

Sarkozy strongly rejected the accusations, calling the document a “blatant fake” and filing complaints for forgery, concealment and spreading false news.

However, French authorities eventually said in 2016 that the document has all the characteristics of an authentic one, although there is no definitive evidence that such a transaction took place.

The official cost for Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign was €20 million.

Accusations of witness tampering

French investigators scrutinized numerous trips to Libya made by people close to Sarkozy, then the interior minister, between 2005 and 2007, including his chief of staff Claude Guéant. They also noted dozens of meetings between Guéant and Takieddine, a key player in major French military contracts abroad.

The investigation gained traction when Takieddine claimed in 2016 to have delivered suitcases of cash from Libya to the French Interior Ministry, although he later reversed his statement four years later.

A new investigation into potential witness tampering has since been opened, with suspicions of efforts to pressure Takieddine to clear Sarkozy. Both Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy face preliminary charges for allegedly “benefitting from corruptly influencing” Takieddine.

11 other defendants

The trial involves 11 other defendants, among them three former ministers, including Claude Guéant, and a former Sarkozy adviser. Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, accused of acting as an intermediary, has fled to Lebanon and is not expected to appear in court.

Like Takieddine, Franco-Algerian businessman Alexandre Djouhri is accused of having been an intermediary.

The case also involves Gaddafi’s former chief of staff and treasurer Bashir Saleh, who sought refuge in France during the Libyan civil war and then moved to South Africa, where he survived a shooting in 2018, before settling in the United Arab Emirates.

Other defendants include two Saudi billionaires, a former Airbus executive and a former banker accused of having played a role in the alleged money transfers.

Shukri Ghanem, Gaddafi’s former oil minister who was also suspected, was found dead in the Danube River in Vienna in 2012 in unclear circumstances. French investigators were able to find Ghanem’s notebook, which is believed to document payments made by Libya.

Gaddafi’s spy chief and brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senoussi told investigative judges millions have indeed been provided to support Sarkozy’s campaign. Accused of war crimes, he is now imprisoned in Libya.

Sarkozy convicted in 2 other cases

Sarkozy has been convicted in two other scandals, but the Libyan case is seen as the one most likely to impact his legacy.

Last month, France’s highest court upheld a conviction against him for corruption and influence peddling during his presidency, sentencing him to one year of house arrest with an electronic bracelet. The case was uncovered through wiretaps during the Libya investigation.

In February, an appeals court found Sarkozy guilty of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid.