Paris (AFP)
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose consultancy activities in Russia are the subject of a preliminary investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), is living his political retirement under judicial pressure.
The PNF confirmed on Friday that it had opened an investigation for "influence peddling" and "laundering of crime or misdemeanor" targeting Mr. Sarkozy's advisory activities with the Russian insurance company Reso Garantia controlled by billionaires Sergei and Nikolai Sarkisov.
According to Mediapart, justice wants to verify whether the former head of state "would have engaged in potentially criminal lobbying activities".
Here are the other court cases concerning him:
- Trial -
- The "eavesdropping": Nicolas Sarkozy is accused of having tried, with his lawyer Thierry Herzog, to obtain from a high magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, information covered by secrecy in legal proceedings.
In exchange, the promise of support to obtain a position in Monaco.
During the trial before the Paris Criminal Court in November-December 2020, the prosecution requested four years in prison, including two closed, against the three men tried for corruption and trading in influence.
The judgment will be rendered on March 1, 2021.
Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted in 2014 in this case.
In 2016, the Court of Cassation had validated the use, disputed, of wiretapping between his lawyer and him.
PNF magistrates have for their part been targeted since September 2020 by an administrative investigation, concerning in particular the examination of the detailed telephone bills of tenors of the bar, when they had sought, in vain, a possible "mole" having warned Nicolas Sarkozy that 'it was bugged.
- The 2012 campaign accounts: Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted in 2016 for "illegal campaign financing", that of the 2012 presidential election, as part of the Bygmalion affair.
He is not blamed for the false invoice system at the heart of the fraud.
Examining magistrate Serge Tournaire ordered in 2017 the referral to correctional purposes of fourteen protagonists of the case, including Mr. Sarkozy for exceeding the campaign spending limit.
Renaud Van Ruymbeke, the other magistrate in charge of the investigation, having refrained from signing the order, a procedural battle had to be decided on appeal in October 2018, then in cassation a year later after the rejection of a appeal by the Constitutional Council in May 2019.
The trial is scheduled to take place from March 17 to April 15, 2021 in Paris.
- Indicted -
- Judges have been investigating since 2013 accusations of financing by Libya of the victorious presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, formulated through Ziad Takieddine and former Libyan dignitaries.
On November 11, 2020, in a spectacular about-face, Mr. Takieddine withdrew his accusations.
The PNF retorted that the charges against the former president "are not limited to statements" by the intermediary.
Mr. Sarkozy was indicted on March 21, 2018 for "passive corruption, illegal financing of the electoral campaign and concealment of Libyan public funds", then on October 12, 2020 for "criminal association".
Among the others indicted are the former secretary general of the Elysee Palace Claude Guéant, the former campaign treasurer Eric Woerth, and the former minister Brice Hortefeux.
- Excluded -
The former president benefited from a dismissal in several cases: his private jet trips billed to the company Lov Group of his friend Stéphane Courbit;
its penalties settled by the UMP for exceeding campaign expenses in 2012 or the case of donations granted to the UMP by the wealthy heiress of the L'Oréal group Liliane Bettencourt (deceased in 2017).
In the case of overcharged surveys ordered by the Elysee, Claude Guéant and ex-relatives of Nicolas Sarkozy must be tried in correctional, the former head of state being covered by his presidential immunity.
In addition, the PNF launched checks at the end of 2017 after the discovery, during a search of a Parisian antique dealer, of regular use of liquid in large denominations by Nicolas Sarkozy.
They did not give anything, according to a source close to the file.
© 2021 AFP