Libyan funding: the Court of Cassation rejects all of Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeals

New legal blow for Nicolas Sarkozy: the Court of Cassation dismissed all appeals from the former head of state and his camp against the investigation into the suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.

In a judgment delivered Wednesday, December 1, the highest court of the French judicial order confirmed the constitution of civil party of the anti-corruption association Sherpa, which gives it access to the investigation file and the possibility of requesting acts .

This decision came in addition to orders, which had not been revealed until then, pronouncing on January 18 the non-admission of the other appeals of Nicolas Sarkozy, his lieutenants Claude Guéant and Éric Woerth, and the intermediary Alexandre Djouhri.

“Passive corruption”

“Neither the interest of public order, nor that of a good administration of justice require the immediate examination of the appeal” and the “procedure will be continued in accordance with the law”, indicate the ordinances of January 18 of the president of the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation, consulted by AFP.

According to several lawyers in the case interviewed by AFP, this decision means that these procedural questions could now be examined only after a possible trial.

With this judgment and these orders, the Court of Cassation thus validates, at least temporarily, the investigations of judges Aude Buresi and Marc Sommerer in this case with multiple ramifications.

The Sarkozy camp raged against the rejection, in September 2020 by the Paris Court of Appeal, of a whole series of nullities raised against this investigation into the suspicions of Libyan financing of the victorious presidential campaign in 2007.

In particular, the former head of state was indicted for “passive corruption”, “illegal financing of an electoral campaign”, “concealment of Libyan public funds” and “criminal association”. Among the grounds for invalidity invoked, Nicolas Sarkozy had advanced presidential immunity.

“I can only regret this decision”

For the facts prior to his election, while he was Minister of the Interior, the former Head of State also requested that the case be entrusted to the Court of Justice of the Republic, which alone is empowered to judge the cases. members of government for the exercise of their functions.

With Claude Guéant, they also argued that the law did not provide for prosecution for the embezzlement of public funds from a foreign country.

In its September 2020 rulings, the Paris Court of Appeal had only partially annulled one of the grounds for indictment of Nicolas Sarkozy, for violation of the electoral code, validating the rest of the investigations.

Solicited, neither Me Thierry Herzog, usual lawyer of Nicolas Sarkozy, nor Me Emmanuel Piwnica, his lawyer to the council, wished to speak on the non-admission in January of the appeals of their client.

“I can only regret this decision, which however does not change anything fundamentally”, only indicated Me Piwnica concerning the confirmation, Wednesday, of the constitution of civil party of Sherpa.

“The defense of Nicolas Sarkozy is firing on all cylinders, and it is his right, but the legal quibbles of the appeal have logically been swept away by the Court of Cassation”, on the contrary welcomed the lawyer of Sherpa, Me Vincent Brengarth.

This resounding investigation was opened after the publication, by Mediapart, in 2012, between the two presidential rounds, of a document supposed to prove that the victorious campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy had been financed by the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Clue bundle

Testimonies from Libyan dignitaries, notes from the Tripoli secret services, accusations of an intermediary … In nine years of work, the magistrates have gathered a sum of disturbing clues which gave substance to this thesis.

However, no physical evidence has yet been found, even if suspicious movements of funds have led to a dozen indictments to date in the main section.

This already sprawling investigation was enriched, in 2021, with new thick sections: other investigating judges are now investigating a possible attempt to bribe the sulphurous intermediary Ziad Takieddine, who temporarily withdrew his accusations at the end of 2020. against Nicolas Sarkozy.

This component, in which half a dozen people have been indicted, involves the “queen of the paparazzi” Mimi Marchand, a close friend of the Sarkozy and Macron couples.

The judges are also investigating an attempt to bribe Lebanese magistrates who allegedly aimed to release Hannibal Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, from detention, in the hope of clearing Nicolas Sarkozy from customs.

With AFP