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Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France, was convicted Thursday of criminal conspiracy in connection with illegal campaign financing tied to Libya during his 2007 presidential run, marking a historic ruling in French political history.
A Paris court found Sarkozy, 70, guilty of orchestrating a conspiracy that funneled millions of euros from the regime of Moammar Gadhafi into his campaign coffers. The three-month trial, which featured 11 defendants including three ex-ministers and Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, centered on allegations of covert payments involving Libyan spies and arms dealers.
Sarkozy denied wrongdoing, arguing that the charges were politically motivated and based on fabricated evidence. He was cleared of passive corruption, misappropriation of funds, and unlawful campaign financing but convicted of conspiracy—the first such conviction against a former French head of state.
The verdict has been appealed to France’s highest court, which suspends any sentence until the appeal process is complete.
The conviction revives one of the most explosive scandals in France’s modern political history. Investigators alleged that Sarkozy secretly accepted millions of euros from Gaddafi to secure his 2007 election victory. The suspicions gained momentum after Gaddafi’s regime collapsed in 2011, when documents and testimony surfaced suggesting financial ties between Tripoli and Sarkozy’s campaign.
Takieddine, a central figure in the affair, testified that he personally delivered suitcases containing more than €5 million ($5.87 million) in cash from Libya to Paris between 2006 and 2007. The claims sparked speculation of a political quid pro quo after Sarkozy strongly backed NATO’s military intervention against Gadhafi in 2011.
French authorities opened their first probe into Sarkozy in 2013. In 2021, he was separately convicted of corruption and influence peddling in a wiretapping scandal, receiving a three-year sentence. Thursday’s ruling, however, marks the first time a French president has been convicted of criminal conspiracy, underscoring the unprecedented nature of the case.
Despite losing reelection in 2012, Sarkozy has remained an influential figure within the conservative Republicans party. His conviction has reignited debate in France over the intersection of politics, justice, and campaign financing.
Sarkozy, who insists the proceedings are driven by political animus, told supporters he would “fight until the end” to clear his name. With the appeal pending, his sentence remains unenforced, but the ruling adds a new chapter to the legal and political saga of a former president who still casts a shadow over French politics.
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