20 June 2019
Sarkozy has been embroiled in multiple criminal investigations since losing his 2012 re-election bid. Sarkozy lost an appeal at the Court of Cassation on Tuesday. This means that he, his lawyer Thierry Herzog and former judge Gilbert Azibert will face trial in the coming months. The case centres on alleged conversations between his lawyer, Herzog and judge Azibert which were tapped. Sarkozy allegedly offered to help promote the judge in return for information about another inquiry the judge was looking into involving illegal payments from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign. The judge was not promoted, because Sarkozy and Herzog learned their phones had been tapped.
Sarkozy is also under investigation for allegedly accepting campaign financing in 2007 from then-Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
France has a strict €22.5m limit on spending by presidential candidates. Sarkozy’s actual expenditure was €18.5m more than the allowed limit of €22.5m. An events company called Bygmalion concealed €18.5m (£15m) of overspending on Sarkozy’s 2012 campaign by raising false invoices. DW.com reported.
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