Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has been found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case linked to receiving millions of euros from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.The Paris criminal court cleared him of other charges, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing.Prosecutors said the money was used to fund his 2007 election campaign, while Sarkozy denied wrongdoing and claimed the case was politically driven. The investigation began in 2013 after Saif al-Islam, son of Gaddafi, accused Sarkozy of taking funds for campaign support. A year later, Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine claimed he had proof that Sarkozy’s campaign received up to €50m from Libya. Sarkozy was president of France from 2007 to 2012.
Sarkozy’s wife, Italian-born former supermodel and singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was charged last year with hiding evidence linked to the Gaddafi case and associating with wrongdoers to commit fraud, both of which she denies. Since losing his re-election bid in 2012, Sarkozy has been targeted by several criminal investigations.
He also appealed against a February 2024 ruling, which found him guilty of overspending on his 2012 re-election campaign, then hiring a PR firm to cover it up.
He was handed a one-year sentence, 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 get a custodial sentence.
In December, the Paris appeals court ruled that he could serve his time at home wearing a tag instead of going to jail.
