Nicolas Sarkozy’s trial began on charges of financing Gaddafi’s elections

The trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is accused of receiving millions of euros in illegal funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign, has begun in Paris.

In exchange, the indictment alleges, Sarkozy promised to help Gaddafi fight his reputation as a rogue in Western countries.

Sarkozy, 69, was president of France from 2007 to 2012.

He has always denied the allegations, saying they were leveled against him by people with a motivation to bring him down.

The investigation was launched in 2013, two years after Seif al-Islam, the son of the then Libyan leader, first accused Sarkozy of taking millions of his father’s money to finance the campaign.

The following year, Lebanese businessman Ziyad Taqieddine, who has long acted as a mediator between France and the Middle East, said he had written evidence that Sarkozy’s campaign had been “heavily” financed by Tripoli and that €50 million (£43 million) in payments continued even after he became president.

Along with Sarkozy, there are 12 other people on trial who are accused of drafting an agreement with Gaddafi. They all deny the charges.

Sarkozy’s wife, the Italian-born former supermodel and singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was Last year, he was accused of concealing evidence related to the Gaddafi case and associating with offenders to commit fraud, both of which she denies.

Since his election defeat in 2012, Sarkozy has been the subject of several criminal investigations.

He also appealed the February 2024 ruling that recognized him guilty of overspending on his 2012 re-election campaignthen hiring a PR firm to cover it up. He was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for six months.

In 2021, he was found guilty of attempting to bribe a judge in 2014 and became the first former French president to receive a prison sentence. In December, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that he could serve time at home with a tag and not to prison.

Sarkozy was not wearing a tag when he arrived in court in Paris on Monday morning.

However, that’s only because the details of that sentence have yet to be worked out.

It is likely that the former president will appear in the device during this three-month trial on the so-called Libyan connection.

The trial will continue until April 10. If convicted, Sarkozy faces up to 10 years in prison.