Former French President Sarkozy is on trial for alleged financing of his campaign by Gaddafi in Libya

PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will go on trial Monday for alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the government of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The so-called “Libyan case”, the largest and perhaps most shocking of the many scandals involving Sarkozy, is expected to continue until April 10, with a verdict expected at a later date.

Sarkozy, 69, faces charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal conspiracy, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has denied any wrongdoing.

The trial involves 11 other defendants, including three former ministers. Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, accused of playing an intermediary role, fled to Lebanon and is not expected to appear before the Paris court.

Sarkozy awaits the hearings “with determination,” his lawyer Christophe Ingrain said in a statement.

“There is no Libyan funding for the campaign,” the statement said. “We want to believe that the court will have the courage to examine the facts objectively, without being guided by the nebulous theory that poisoned the investigation. »

The affair broke out in March 2011, when a Libyan news agency reported that the Gaddafi government had financed Sarkozy’s campaign in 2007. In an interview, Gaddafi himself said: “it is thanks to us that he rose to the presidency. We provided him with the funds that allowed him to win,” without providing any amount or other details.

Sarkozy, who welcomed Gaddafi to Paris with high honors in 2007, became one of the first Western leaders to push for military intervention in Libya in March 2011, when the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring swept through the Arab world. Gaddafi was killed by opposition fighters in October that year, ending four decades of rule in the North African country.

The following year, the French online news site Mediapart published a document believed to be a note from the Libyan secret services, mentioning Gaddafi’s agreement to finance Sarkozy’s campaign to the tune of 50 million euros.

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

However, French investigating judges ultimately declared in 2016 that the document had all the characteristics of an authentic document, even though there is no definitive proof that such a transaction took place.

The official cost of Sarkozy’s campaign in 2007 was 20 million euros.

French investigators scrutinized numerous trips to Libya made by people close to Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, 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 momentum when Takieddine told news site Mediapart in 2016 that he had delivered three suitcases from Libya containing millions in cash to the French Interior Ministry.

However, Takieddinne retracted his statement four years later.

Since then, a separate investigation has been opened into allegations of witness tampering, with magistrates suspecting an attempt to pressure Takieddine to exonerate Sarkozy. Sarkozy and his wife, former model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, faced preliminary charges, with financial prosecutors saying the former president was suspected of having “benefited from the corrupt influence” of Takieddine.

The other accused are three former French ministers, including Guéant, and a former advisor close to Sarkozy.

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

The case also concerns Gaddafi’s former chief of staff and treasurer, Bashir Saleh, who took refuge in France during the Libyan civil war and then settled in 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 playing a role in the alleged money transfers.

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

Gaddafi’s secret service chief and brother-in-law, Abdallah al-Senoussi, told investigating judges that millions of dollars had indeed been provided to support Sarkozy’s campaign. Accused of war crimes, he is now imprisoned in Libya.

Sarkozy has been convicted in two other scandals – but the Libyan case appears to be the one most likely to significantly affect his legacy.

France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, last month upheld Sarkozy’s conviction for corruption and influence peddling while he was head of state. He was sentenced to one year of house arrest with an electronic bracelet. The affair came to light as investigating judges listened to wiretapped telephone conversations during the Libya investigation.

In February last year, a Paris appeals court found Sarkozy guilty of illegal campaign financing during his failed 2012 re-election bid.