Agence France-Presse (AFP) said that former French President Nicolas Sarkozy would stand trial in early 2025 on suspicion of obtaining Libyan funding for his election campaign in 2007, according to the National Prosecutor for Financial Cases in France.
AFP said that Sarkozy would appear before the criminal court over a period of 4 months on charges of corruption, formation of a criminal gang, illegal financing of the electoral campaign, and concealment of embezzlement of Libyan public funds.
The French judiciary suspects that Sarkozy and several of his close associates have concluded an agreement with Libyan Muammar Gaddafi's regime to obtain secret financial assistance during the presidential elections that Sarkozy won in 2007.
It added that 12 other people would appear before the court, including three right-wing ministers from his government, two interior ministers close to Sarkozy: Claude Guéant and Brice Ortofu, as well as Eric Wort, his former election campaign treasurer.
While the Public Prosecutor for Financial Cases confirmed that the hearings would initially take place between January 06 and April 10, 2025, after investigations that lasted ten years, as the judges in charge of the investigation generally supported the requests of the National Financial Public Prosecution, which considered that Sarkozy was “fully aware” of the actions of those close to him.
