France's former head of state, Nicolas Sarkozy, is likely to face trial for illegal campaign funding. France's highest court has declared that Sarkozy's appeal against such a criminal trial is inadmissible, as the Court of Cassation confirmed. The timing of the process was still unclear.
In his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2012, Sarkozy is said to have exceeded the statutory ceiling for campaign spending by a good 20 million euros. Background is the "Bygmalion affair" to a communication agency, which bears this name. With fictitious invoices should have been tried to keep the cost of Sarkozy's election campaign officially below the ceiling of 22.5 million euros.
Sarkozy had already been fined for illegal campaign funding - but before the "Bygmalion affair" came to light. An investigating judge ordered the trial of the Conservative and other suspects in early 2017. Sarkozy was French President from 2007 to 2012.
