A Paris court on Thursday convicted former French president Nicolas Sarkozy of criminal conspiracy in a high-profile trial over allegations that late Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi helped finance his 2007 presidential campaign.
Sarkozy, 70, who governed France from 2007 to 2012, was however acquitted of charges of corruption, embezzlement, and accepting illegal campaign financing. The judgment marks the latest in a string of legal setbacks for the right-wing leader, who continues to deny wrongdoing.
Judge Nathalie Gavarino ruled that Sarkozy, as a serving minister and political leader at the time, “allowed his close collaborators and political supporters over whom he had authority and who acted in his name to approach the Libyan authorities in order to obtain or attempt to obtain financial support.”
Prosecutors had requested a seven-year prison term for the former president. Sentencing is expected to be announced later in the hearing. Sarkozy, who appeared in court with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, vowed previously to “fight to the end.”
Two of Sarkozy’s former aides were also convicted: Claude Gueant, his former chief of staff, was found guilty of passive corruption and falsification, while former interior minister Brice Hortefeux was convicted of criminal conspiracy. In contrast, Eric Woerth, Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign treasurer, was acquitted.
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The ruling coincided with the death on Tuesday of Ziad Takieddine, a Franco-Lebanese businessman and key accuser who had previously claimed to have delivered €5 million in cash from Kadhafi to Sarkozy’s camp, before retracting — and later contradicting — his statements.
Prosecutors argued that Sarkozy and his allies struck a deal with Kadhafi in 2005 to secure illegal funding in exchange for rehabilitating the Libyan leader’s international standing. The case drew on testimony from Libyan officials, evidence of financial transfers, and records from Libya’s former oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, who was found drowned in Vienna in 2012.
Sarkozy has already been convicted twice in separate cases, including graft and illegal campaign financing, leading to the loss of France’s highest honour, the Legion of Honour. Despite his legal troubles, the former “hyper-president” remains influential within France’s political right and continues to meet regularly with President Emmanuel Macron.