Sarkozy faces trouble over campaign spending
Friday 14/June/2019 - 05:21 PM
Sarkozy
A financial court in France has already started an investigation into the financial dealings of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, a French news site said.
The court decided to open the investigation after receiving reports to the effect that the former French president used to spend banknotes to the value of 500 euros all through 2017.
The investigation also comes amid accusations to Sarkozy that he had received illegal financing from Libya to bankroll his failed 2012 presidential election bid, the independent French online investigative and opinion journal, Mediapart, said.
According to the same journal, Sarkozy will most likely be accused of corruption against the background of this Libyan financing.
The journal did not specify, however, the penalties the former French president could face in case of an indictment.
It said investigators received strong proof of the irregularities Sarkozy could have committed by ensuring that he used to spend 500 euro banknotes during 2017.
This, the investigators said, could prove that Sarkozy had received money from Libya to finance his presidential campaign.
Judicial sources affirmed, meanwhile, news about the presence of a lawsuit against the former French president.
Mediapart said suspicions started to revolve around Sarkozy when corruption police searched an antiques shop in Paris at the end of 2017 and found an envelope on which the name of the former French president was written.
Inside the envelope there were 2,000 euros Sarkozy sent to buy an item from the same shop, Mediapart said.
Small Chinese statue
During interrogations, Sarkozy said he used to send an assistant to the bank to withdraw 500 euro banknotes.
The French law does not ban the withdrawal of such banknotes. Nonetheless, police could not establish links between the money Sarkozy's assistant withdrew from the bank and the envelope found at the antiques shop. This is why the investigation still faces difficulties.
Sarkozy said the 2,000 euros discovered were aimed at buying a small Chinese statue that the Nicolas Sarkozy Support Society had wanted to present to Michel Gaudin, director of Sarkozy's current office, and treasurer of the association since 2012.
The former president is currently facing two cases before the courts. The first issue concerns the illegal financing of his presidential campaign in 2012 in what is known as the Pygmalion case, and the second is related to the growing influence and corruption of Judge Gilbert Azbert. These trials have been suspended pending the final decisions of the Court of Cassation.
In the Libyan case, on March 21, 2018, Sarkozy was charged with "negative bribery", "misappropriation of Libyan public funds" and "illegitimate financing of her electoral campaign." When summoned on June 4, Sarkozy did not respond to the questions of the judges who challenged their jurisdiction before the Court of Appeal.
In November 2016, Ziad Taqi Eddin told French news agency Media Bart that in 2006 and 2007 he delivered three suitcases filled with cash from the 200 and 500 euros to Sarkozy and his office manager Claude Gian.
Taqi al-Din claims that these amounts are from Gaddafi, amounting to 5 million euros.
Mr Gian, who ran Sarkozy's presidential campaign at the time, categorically denies it and told France Info that he had not seen a penny of Libyan funding.
The investigation is added to the two cases facing Sarkozy, the first being accusations of receiving Libyan funds to support his presidential campaign in 2012 and the second charges of abuse of power and corruption issues are currently before the Court of Cassation.
