Libyan funding suspicions: justice examines validity of investigation

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Coronavirus crisis requires, it is this Wednesday that the hearing behind closed doors of Nicolas Sarkozy will take place before the Court of Appeal of Paris. The former French president is accused of having financed part of his victorious campaign of 2007 with hidden Libyan funds. This Wednesday, Nicolas Sarkozy should challenge the validity of the judicial investigation in this sprawling case.

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This is a crucial procedural step in this judicial information opened 7 years ago. Nicolas Sarkozy and his former ministers Claude Guéant, Éric Woerth and Brice Hortefeux will file a series of nullities against the investigation into Libyan funding for the 2007 presidential campaign.

While the work of the investigators has made it possible to accumulate a large amount of disturbing evidence which supports the thesis of hidden financing , no material evidence has however been found.

In his appeals, Nicolas Sarkozy, indicted for passive corruption, illegal financing of the campaign and concealment of embezzlement of Libyan public funds, first claims recognition of his presidential immunity from accusations of compensation he would have granted after his election to the Gaddafi regime.

For the previous acts which he would have committed while he was Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy affirms that his case falls under the Court of Justice of the Republic, the only power to judge the members of the governments for the exercise of their functions.

For his part, the Advocate General, a supporter of the validation of the investigations, considers that the alleged acts have no direct link with his duties at the time. This Wednesday, the Court of Appeal will put its decisions under advisement.

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• France
• Justice
• Nicolas Sarkozy