In the middle of a trial, Nicolas Sarkozy expressed this morning in Le Parisien his exasperation with persistent accusations of illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi. In an interview with our colleagues, the former President of the Republic declared:
"Have I ever been given any concrete, tangible evidence, any proof that would demonstrate that I lied? Everything they've put against me is based on pure hypotheses. They've analyzed my assets, those of my wife, my ex-wife, and my children. They've pored over Takieddine and Gaubert's accounts, 1 pages of them. They haven't found the slightest trace of Libyan money in my campaign."
"I will prove my innocence! It will take as long as it takes, but we will get there!"
A sprawling trial
This cry from the heart comes in the middle of a trial before the Paris judicial court. The national financial prosecutor's office has denounced a "inconceivable, unheard of, indecent corruption pact" which was supposedly concluded in 2005 between Nicolas Sarkozy and Muammar Gaddafi.
Nicolas Sarkozy is being tried alongside twelve other defendants, including his former ministers Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, as well as intermediaries such as Ziad Takieddine and Alexandre Djouhri. The charges include corruption, receiving stolen public funds, illegal campaign financing, and criminal conspiracy.
The case began in 2012 with the publication by Mediapart of documents suggesting €50 million in Libyan funding for the 2007 campaign. Since then, the investigation has brought to light evidence such as the notebooks of former Libyan minister Choukri Ghanem, mentioning payments to Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as suspicious financial flows involving people close to the former president.
Despite these accusations, Nicolas Sarkozy continues to proclaim his innocence and claims that no tangible evidence has been brought against him. He claims that a thorough examination of his assets and those of his close associates has revealed no trace of Libyan funding. The trial is scheduled to last until April 10, 2025....
