When the verdict came, it reduced the court in Paris to an astonishing silence: Nicolas Sarkozy was guilty of corruption and influence on hawking, and sentenced to three years in prison, two of whom were suspended.
The French president from 2007 to 2012 played an ‘active role’ in forging a ‘corruption treaty’ with his lawyer and a senior magistrate to obtain information on a separate investigation into political donations, the judge stated, and there was’ serious and consistent ‘evidence’ of co-operation between the three men to break the law.
The conviction and sentence were dramatic, unexpected and historic. Sarkozy, 66, has repeatedly stated his innocence and dismissed the charges as an “insult to my intelligence”.
However, it is unlikely he will spend a day in jail. His lawyer has announced that he intends to appeal, a process that will lead to a new trial, and a one-year prison sentence can be served outside certain conditions outside prison, including wearing an electronic bracelet or limited home preservation.
Sarkozy did not comment when he left court, but his wife, the supermodel who became singer Carla Bruni, described the verdict on Instagram as an ‘injustice’.
“What a relentless nonsense my love,” she wrote. “The battle continues, the truth will come out.”
While Sarkozy is unable to hold public office, the verdict, delivered Monday afternoon, is likely to destroy his hopes of returning to public life in time for next year’s presidential election. His center-right Les Républicains (LR) party has struggled to come up with a credible candidate since Sarkozy’s former prime minister, François Fillon, was engulfed in scandal during the 2017 presidential race, which paved the way for Emmanuel Macron to to win.
During his trial last year, the court heard Sarkozy instructing his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, to offer senior magistrate Gilbert Azibert a cozy job on the Côte d’Azur in exchange for information on an investigation into whether he made donations of the disease. L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
Quick guide
Nicolas Sarkozy’s legal problems
Right bribery
Sarkozy was convicted of corruption on March 1 for allegations that he offered a plum in Monaco to a judge for information on a separate investigation into the financing of his successful election campaign in 2007.
Libya funding
Since 2013, investigating magistrates have been investigating allegations that Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s government helped fund Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign.
Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, was the first to make the claim in 2011 when he said Sarkozy should “return the money he took from Libya to finance his election campaign”. A year later, the website Mediapart published a document stating that Gaddafi had agreed to support Sarkozy with up to € 50 million.
Sarkozy is charged in 2018 with bribery, illegal financing of campaigns and illegal receipt of Libyan funds. In October 2020, he is further charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.
Bettencourt affair
In another controversy surrounding the 2007 campaign, Sarkozy’s then-UMP party is accused of accepting illegal payments from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt in cash-filled envelopes.
After a lengthy investigation that he said was politically motivated, Sarkozy was not used by Bettencourt while she was too weak to understand what she was doing.
Bygmalion affair
Sarkozy is due in March and April for illegally funding his failed 2012 re-election bid, which includes large American-style stadium gatherings.
His campaign exceeded strict foreign limits for French campaigns, a fact that was allegedly concealed by a system of false invoices fraudulently passed on as party expenses. Sarkozy denies any knowledge of the alleged fraud, known as the ‘Bygmalion’ affair.
Exceeding the campaign’s spending limits carries a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment and a fine.
Karachi case
A lengthy investigation involving two former Sarkozy assistants is being prosecuted by judges investigating alleged setbacks from a Pakistani arms deal, which was concluded when Sarkozy was budget minister.
A shell company was allegedly used to channel setbacks to then-Prime Minister Edouard Balladur’s failed presidential bid in 1995, which helped Sarkozy.
Sarkozy was questioned as a witness, not as a suspect.
At the trial of Balladur, prosecutors demanded that the 91-year-old be sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of € 50,000.
More influential hawker
French prosecutors for financial crime said in January 2021 that they had launched an investigation into the influence of Sarkozy on advisory work he had carried out in Russia.
The Mediapart website said that the investigation targeted a payment by the Russian insurance company Reso-Garantia of € 3 million in 2019 while Sarkozy was working as an adviser, well after he left office.
Investigators are said to be trying to verify whether Sarkozy is acting only as a consultant – which would be perfectly legal – “or that he is doing a potentially criminal lobbying on behalf of the Russian oligarchs.” Agence France-Press
The case in Bettencourt was eventually dismissed, but by that time an investigation into corruption and influence on hawkers had begun.
Judge Christine Mée, the president of the tribunal, said there was serious evidence of a ‘corruption pact’ between Sarkozy, Herzog and Azibert. Herzog, 65, and Azibert, 73, were sentenced to similar three-year sentences, two of which were suspended.
The case, based on telephone tap, was known as the “Bismuth case”; Paul Bismuth was the name the former president used in connection with two burner telephones used to communicate with Herzog.
French detectives began monitoring Sarkozy’s communications in September 2013 as part of an investigation into allegations that he received an illegal and undeclared donation of € 50 million from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to fund his successful 2007 presidential campaign.
What they heard from the recorded conversations showed investigators in a new and unexpected direction. They revealed that the former president and Duke communicated “in secret” using mobile phones registered under false names.
Additional wiretaps on these phones indicated conversations suggesting Sarkozy was in contact with Azibert, then a member of the Cour de cassation – the highest court in France – via Herzog to ask for confidential information about the Bettencourt case.
Sarkozy, involved in several lawsuits, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in all previous and current investigations.
He tried for years to drop the charges against Bismuth and dismiss the case. Herzog argued that the secret recorded conversations between him and Sarkozy were covered by the privilege of a client lawyer and that it could not be used as evidence.
Before his trial last year, Sarkozy said he welcomed the trial as an opportunity to ‘clear my name’.
“I’m fighting. I’m not going to be accused of things I did not do. I am not corrupt and what has been inflicted on me is a scandal that will rest in the annals. The truth will come out, “Sarkozy told BFMTV.
The former president is expected to appear in court later this month in another case, the “Bygmalion affair”, in which he is accused of spending too much on his 2012 election.
He is also being investigated for allegations of influence on fraud and “money laundering of crime or misconduct” related to advisory activities in Russia.
Supporters of Sarkozy have accused French judges of making the former president the target of an unjust and relentless legal crusade.
He is the first former president to appear in court on criminal charges. His predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was charged and sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence for false work in the city hall when he was mayor of Paris – but was spared due to ill health.
At the end of his two-week trial last year, Sarkozy said: ‘This case was the crossroads for me. But if it was the price to pay for the truth to come out, I’m willing to accept it … I still trust in the justice of our country. ‘
Herzog was also convicted of violating the rules of professional secrecy between him and his client. Herzog and Azibert have announced that they will appeal against their conviction.
Following the ruling, Damien Abad, president of the LR parliamentary group, tweeted: “Today I want to express my friendship with President Nicolas Sarkozy again. His life was a succession of trials he had never been able to overcome with energy and courage. Once again, he will prove it. I’m sure of it. ”