Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy found guilty on some charges in Libya campaign financing case

A Paris court on Thursday found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty on certain charges tied to the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign with money from the Libyan government of Moammar Gadhafi. The court has not yet announced a sentence, and prosecutors have indicated that sentencing would come later in the day or in a subsequent session. Sarkozy, 70, was present in the courtroom with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, as the judgment was read, while a gallery of reporters and members of the public filled the room. His three adult sons were also in attendance. The verdict makes Sarkozy the first former French president known to have been found guilty of accepting foreign funds to win the presidency. He did not admit wrongdoing during the three-month trial, which involved 11 co-defendants, including three former ministers. Prosecutors argued for a seven-year prison sentence, though it was not immediately clear how the court would structure any punishment pending appeals.

The case centers on allegations that Libyan officials secretly funneled millions of euros to Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign as part of a broader effort to improve Franco-Libyan ties after years of estrangement. Investigators traced the claims to a Libyan news agency and, in 2012, Mediapart published what it described as a Libyan intelligence memo referencing a 50 million-euro funding agreement. Sarkozy rejected the document as forged and sued for defamation; French magistrates later acknowledged that the memo appeared authentic, though the evidence of a completed transaction remained inconclusive at trial. The proceedings also scrutinized a string of trips to Libya by Sarkozy associates during his time as interior minister (2005-2007) and examined whether individuals close to Sarkozy benefited from those contacts in ways that violated campaign financing rules.

The charges listed against Sarkozy included passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association. Prosecutors contended that Sarkozy knowingly benefited from what they described as a “corruption pact” with Gadhafi’s government, a characterization that sparked intense political debate about France’s dealings with Libya prior to the 2011 uprising. Sarkozy has consistently denied any misconduct, calling the allegations politically motivated and accusing opponents of trying to retaliate for his tough stance on Gadhafi and Libya in the early 2010s. During the trial, Sarkozy lashed out at what he described as a plot staged by “liars and crooks,” and he questioned the credibility of allegations that punitive actions against him were a form of vengeance for his foreign policy decisions.

The courtroom scene underscored France’s ongoing debates over transparency and accountability in political financing. Sarkozy’s defense highlighted gaps in documentary evidence and pointed to the absence of conclusive proof of a completed transfer of funds. The court’s ruling, delivered after three months of testimony and cross-examinations, did not resolve all aspects of the case. In addition to Sarkozy, several co-defendants faced proceedings that have not concluded, including a separate inquiry into possible witness tampering related to statements by Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who claimed to have delivered suitcases of cash to Sarkozy’s inner circle. Takieddine, who did not attend the trial and died on Tuesday in Beirut at age 75, had been a central yet controversial figure in the financing allegations and related investigations.

The Libyan financing allegations emerged amid shifting geopolitical dynamics in the 2000s, when Gadhafi pursued a rapprochement with Western powers. Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was among the early Western leaders who supported military intervention during the 2011 Libyan uprising, a stance that critics say complicated the later legal scrutiny of back-channel funding and influence operations. Sarkozy has repeatedly argued that the case is a political vendetta and a retaliation for his hard line against the Gadhafi regime. The broader narrative of the trial touched on France’s back-channel diplomacy with Libya in the years leading up to the Arab Spring and the extent to which such diplomacy may have translated into financial favors.

The legal process around Sarkozy’s broader regulatory exposure has continued in other arenas. In June, Sarkozy was stripped of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award, following a separate conviction for corruption and influence peddling tied to attempting to obtain information about a separate legal case in 2014, for which he received an electronic monitoring requirement that has since been partially lifted. Earlier, Sarkozy was convicted in a 2012 campaign-financing case for spending beyond the legal limit in his failed 2012 reelection bid and received a one-year prison sentence, with six months suspended; that conviction is under appeal at France’s Court of Cassation. Sarkozy has consistently denied the wrongdoing and has pursued all available appeals.

As the Libyan financing case unfolds, Sarkozy remains a potent force within right-wing French politics and, in some circles, in the broader cultural landscape through his wife, Bruni-Sarkozy, who remains a high-profile figure in entertainment and philanthropy. The verdict against Sarkozy on some counts thus marks a significant moment in France’s ongoing reckoning with political financing, legal accountability, and the legacy of a former president whose career has endured despite repeated legal challenges. Attorneys for Sarkozy and prosecutors have signaled that additional motions and appeals are likely, ensuring that the legal proceedings will extend beyond Thursday as the full scope of the case continues to be teased out in court.