Nicolas Sarkozy loses appeal against three-year prison sentence for corruption – but the French ex-president may wear an electronic tag instead of serving time in a cell
- In 2021, Sarkozy and his lawyer were found guilty of attempting to bribe a judge
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy lost his appeal against a corruption conviction today and was finally sentenced to three years in prison.
But the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that he would be suspended for two years and that the 68-year-old could wear an electronic tag instead of serving the third year in a cell.
In 2021, Sarkozy and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, were found guilty of attempting to bribe a judge in exchange for confidential information.
It related to yet another corruption investigation that focused on whether Sarkozy accepted illegal payments from the late L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt to fund his 2007 election campaign.
The 2021 guilty verdict against Sarkozy made him the first former French president to be convicted of corruption while in office.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves the courthouse in Paris today after losing his appeal against a corruption conviction
Sarkozy arrives at the courthouse today
In the same year, Sarkozy was also found guilty of illegally funding his re-election campaign and faces jail time for that crime as well.
The Paris criminal court verdict followed a five-week trial in which prosecutors said the politician was guilty of tampering with the books during his failed 2012 bid to become head of state.
Sarkozy – who has always maintained his innocence – will become the first head of state to be tagged, going about his daily life with his third wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni, 55.
Last week, financial prosecutors also called for Sarkozy to stand trial for a “corruption pact” with the late Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.
It was one where Sarkozy reportedly accepted at least £42 million in cash from the late dictator to fund his election campaign.
Sarkozy is on trial for acts of ‘corruption’, ‘criminal association’, ‘illegal financing of the election campaign’ and ‘coverage of misappropriation of public funds’.
Gaddafi’s money was allegedly laundered through bank accounts in Panama and Switzerland.
Within months of his election in 2007, Sarkozy invited Muammar Gaddafi to Paris for a state visit, praising him as a good friend and “brother leader.”
Ten others, including former ministers Claude Gueant and Eric Woerth, have also been charged and are facing trial in connection with the charges.
In 2011, RAF and French Air Force jets spearheaded the massive bombing campaign that ended with Gaddafi being killed by a mob.
A French appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence for Sarkozy for attempting to bribe a judge after he left office and for peddling influence in exchange for confidential information about an investigation into his 2007 presidential campaign finances
Paul-Albert Iweins, lawyer for Thierry Herzog, leaves the courthouse today following the verdict
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves the Paris Court of Appeal today
David Cameron was British Prime Minister at the time and visited Libya with Sarkozy shortly after Gaddafi’s death.
There are claims that Sarkozy wanted his old friend and ally dead because of his potential to produce incriminating evidence.
Within days of Sarkozy losing his presidential immunity from prosecution in 2012, detectives from the fraud squad raided the Paris home he shares with Ms. Bruni.
Sarkozy’s conservative predecessor as president, the late Jacques Chirac, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence in 2011 for corruption related to his time as mayor of Paris.
The last French head of state to go to a prison cell was Marshal Philippe Pétain, the Nazi wartime collaborator.