The trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was set to begin on Monday. The former leader is from the government of late leader Moammar Gadhafi for his 2007 presidential campaign.
Charges against Sarkozy include passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, embezzlement of public funds, and criminal association. He faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
“There is no Libyan financing of the campaign,” read a statement put out by Sarkozy’s lawyer denying the charges. “We want to believe the court will have the courage to examine the facts objectively, without being guided by the nebulous theory that poisoned the investigation.”
has labeled the document allegedly proving that some funds came from Gadhafi’s sanctioned government a “fake.”
Alongside Sarkozy, 69, eleven other defendants are on trial, including three former ministers.
Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who prosecutors say was the broker of the transaction, has fled to Lebanon and will not be present in court.
Case kicking around for over a decade
Labeled by the French media, the accusations have been kicking around since 2011, when a Libyan news outlet published a story about the campaign financing.
The allegations gained traction in 2016, when Takieddine said that he had personally delivered suitcases full of cash from Libyan officials to the French Interior Ministry.
Sarkozy, who was president of France from 2007 to 2012, has already been and influence peddling in unrelated cases.
es/kb (AP, dpa)
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