Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of illegal campaign financing by a Paris appeal court which on Wednesday gave him a one-year prison sentence, half of which was suspended.
The court found that Sarkozy spent 42.8 million euros (45.9 million U.S. dollars) for his presidential campaign in 2012 while the maximum amount allowed in France at the time was 22.5 million euros.
To conceal the massive overrun, a system of double invoicing had been set up, according to French press. Sarkozy “undoubtedly benefited from frauds that gave him far greater means than those authorized by law” though “the investigation did not establish that he had ordered them, or that he had participated in them, or even that he had been informed of them,” reported the French daily newspaper Le Monde quoting the judge’s ruling.
Nicolas Sarkozy served one five-year term as president, until 2012. He adopted tough anti-immigration policies and sought to reform France’s economy during a presidency overshadowed by the global financial crisis.
Since losing his re-election bid to socialist François Hollande in 2012, he has been targeted by several criminal investigations.
In 2023, he was given a suspended prison sentence for trying to bribe a judge in 2014. He was sentenced to three years in prison – including two suspended – but appealed against the ruling.
The 68-year-old was the first former French president to get a custodial sentence.
Next year, Sarkozy will be tried over allegations he took illegal funds for his 2007 presidential campaign from the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
President from 2007 to 2012, Sarkozy faces multiple legal cases. A trial will start in 2025 over allegations that he had accepted money from Libya to fund his 2007 campaign. In 2021, a court handed him a prison sentence of three years, including two suspended, for “corruption and influence peddling.” He denied any wrongdoing and the appeal court in 2023 upheld the original ruling. The case is already before the highest court. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollar)
