Another former president investigated
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French judges ordered former President Nicolas Sarkozy to stand trial over allegations that he accepted millions of euros in cash from the regime of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi to finance his 2007 campaign.
Sarkozy is one of 13 men the judges set for trial between January and April 2025, France’s financial prosecutor said Friday, after an investigation that lasted more than a decade. The defendants include Eric Woerth, the treasurer of Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign who is now a lawmaker in the National Assembly and a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s party. Authorities have charged Sarkozy with corruption and campaign-finance violations and Woerth with campaign-finance violations.
The trial adds to the considerable legal troubles facing the former president. He was convicted in March 2021 of trying to bribe a magistrate by offering him a plum position in exchange for information about another investigation he was facing. In September 2021, he was convicted of exceeding France’s campaign spending limits during his 2012 run; prosecutors alleged the campaign issued fake receipts to mask the spending.
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They could be concerned that as a French speaker he may have connections with Canadian Nazis.
