Bygmalion, supposed Libyan financing of the 2007 campaign, awarding the World Cup to Qatar... In addition to the wiretapping affair, for which Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced Wednesday, May 17 to one year in prison to be served under electronic bracelet for corruption and influence peddling, the former president is cited in several files.
The Bygmalion case
Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on 30 September 2021 to one year in prison in the Bygmalion case for the illegal financing of his lost 2012 presidential campaign.
Unlike his 13 co-defendants (former executives of the campaign and the UMP as well as the Bygmalion company), the former president was not accused of the system of false invoices designed to hide the explosion of authorized campaign expenses, but of having exceeded the legal threshold of these expenses of more than 20 million euros. He appealed. His trial will begin on 8 November 2023.
" READ ALSO Pensions: in 2010, how Nicolas Sarkozy, François Fillon and Eric Woerth won the battle of 62 years?
Libyan funding
After a ten-year investigation, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) requested in May a trial for 13 people, including Nicolas Sarkozy and three of his former ministers, in the case of suspicions of Libyan financing of the 2007 presidential campaign.
The prosecution is demanding that the former president, who vigorously contests the alleged facts, be tried for passive corruption, criminal association, illegal financing of electoral campaigns and concealment of Libyan public funds.
The public prosecutor believes in particular to have a "set of convergent testimonies" to establish that a "corruptive pact" with the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had been concluded in order to "obtain hidden financial support" for the French electoral campaign. It is now up to the investigating magistrates to decide whether or not to hold a trial.
Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and his lawyer Thierry Herzog, at the Paris court for the wiretapping case, this Wednesday, May 17 in a sketch of hearing. BENOIT PEYRUCQ / AFP
Consulting activities in Russia
His lucrative consulting activities in Russia are also the subject of a preliminary investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), which this time suspects the former president of possible "influence peddling".
According to Mediapart, which revealed the information, this investigation was opened in the summer of 2020. It aims to determine whether he "engaged in potentially criminal lobbying activities" on behalf of Russian oligarchs.
The Platini file
Justice has also been investigating since 2019 for "active and passive corruption" on a lunch held in 2010 between Nicolas Sarkozy, then president of the Republic, two senior Qatari leaders and Michel Platini, at the time boss of UEFA. Objective: to determine whether Michel Platini's vote in favor of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup was obtained in exchange for compensation.
Nicolas Sarkozy and Michel Platini, in 2015, at the Parc des Princes. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
The Takieddine Question
Investigations are finally underway into the resounding retraction in November 2020 of Nicolas Sarkozy's main accuser, Ziad Takieddine. At the heart of this case, suspicions of payments to the intermediary, with the possible approval of the former head of state, so that he withdraws his accusations.
If the justice questions his role in these three cases, he is not formally implicated in any of them.
Read alsoValérie Pécresse, behind the scenes of a failed campaign: "I should have clasher with Nicolas Sarkozy, I blame myself"
Dismissal of cases
The former president has benefited from a dismissal in several cases: that on trips by private jet, which had raised suspicions of abuse of social assets because they were paid by the company of one of his relatives, or in the investigation into penalties due to financial irregularities of his 2012 campaign settled by the UMP.
The court has also dropped its proceedings in the case of donations granted to the UMP by the wealthy heiress of the L'Oréal group Liliane Bettencourt (who died in 2017), where he was briefly indicted for abuse of weakness.
In addition, four former members of Nicolas Sarkozy's inner circle were convicted in January in the so-called Elysée polls affair, billed without a call for tenders between 2007 and 2012. The former secretary general of the presidency and former minister Claude Guéant, sentenced to one year in prison including eight months firm, appealed. The former Head of State, covered by presidential immunity, which prevails for acts performed in that capacity, has never been implicated in this case.
