Nicolas Sarkozy found guilty of criminal conspiracy in Gaddafi case

2025-09-25 11:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to the receipt of millions of euros in illegal funds from the late Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

The Paris criminal court acquitted him of all other charges, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing.

Sarkozy, who claims the case is politically motivated, was accused of using funds from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign.

In return, the prosecution alleged that Sarkozy promised to help Gaddafi combat his reputation as an outcast from Western countries.

Sarkozy, 70, was president of France from 2007 to 2012.

The investigation was opened in 2013, two years after Saif al-Islam, the son of the then-Libyan leader, first accused Sarkozy of taking millions of his father's money for campaign financing.

The following year, Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who long acted as a mediator between France and the Middle East, said he had written evidence that Sarkozy's campaign had been "abundantly" financed by Tripoli and that payments worth 50 million euros (£43 million) continued after he became president.

Sarkozy's wife, the former supermodel and singer of Italian origin, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was accused last year of concealing evidence related to the Gaddafi case and of colluding with perpetrators to commit fraud, which she denies.

Since losing his re-election bid in 2012, Sarkozy has been the target of several criminal investigations.

He also appealed a February 2024 ruling that found him guilty of excessive spending on his 2012 re-election campaign, and then of hiring a PR firm to cover it up. He was sentenced to one year in prison, of which six months were suspended.

In 2021, he was found guilty of trying to bribe a judge in 2014 and became the first former French president to receive a prison sentence. In December, the Paris appeals court ruled that he could serve the sentence at home wearing a tag instead of going to prison./ CNA, translated by BBC