Paris Court Finds Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Guilty of Conspiracy

The Paris court has convicted former French President Nicolas Sarkozy of conspiracy, according to reports from BFMTV.

_"The court found Sarkozy guilty of criminal conspiracy,"_ the report states.

At the same time, the former president was acquitted of charges related to embezzlement of public funds and passive corruption, BFMTV reports.

The court also found several other individuals involved in the case guilty, including Sarkozy’s chief of staff, Claude Gean, businessman Alexander Juri, and politician Brais Ortefe, the channel adds. The latter has previously held positions as Minister of Labor and Minister of the Interior under Sarkozy.

It is noted that three other defendants were acquitted, including Deputy Éric Vert.

Sarkozy faced allegations of illegal campaign financing, passive corruption, embezzlement of public funds, and criminal conspiracy.

Prosecutors requested a sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros for the ex-president.

The investigation began in 2012 after Mediapart published documents suggesting that Libyan authorities transferred €50 million to finance Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign.

In 2016, Lebanese-French businessman Ziyad Takieddine claimed to have delivered suitcases filled with cash totaling €5 million from Libya to the French Interior Ministry, which was led at the time by Sarkozy.

According to Takieddine, he handed over money twice to Sarkozy’s chief of staff, Claude Gean, and once directly to Sarkozy himself.

In 2018, Sarkozy was formally charged with corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealment of embezzled Libyan state funds.

In November 2020, Takieddine withdrew his allegations against Sarkozy.