A court in Paris found former French President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling. The ex-head of the state was sentenced to three years of imprisonment, of which one hour will be a real term, two - conditional
This is reported by the French mass media.
Among other things, Sarkozy was accused of illegally trying to obtain information from an employee of the French Court of Cassation, Gilbert Azibert, about the investigation into the illegal financing of his presidential campaign by the daughter of L'Oreal company founder Liliane Betancourt.
It was assumed that through his lawyer Tierra Erzog Sarkozy promised to help Aziber in obtaining a prestigious position in Monaco. Records of intercepted telephone conversations between Sarkozy and Erzog in 2013-2014 were cited as evidence. During these conversations, the interlocutors never called each other by their real names, and Sarkozy used the pseudonym Paul Bismuth. However, the examination established that it was the former president who spoke.
Sarkozy himself declared that he never tried to protect Aziber. Sarkoza's lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, argued that the prosecutor's office had no reason to conclude that during the negotiations, the ex-president hinted at a violation of the law. "It was just a friendly chat," she said.
Sarkozy, who left the post of president in 2012, had previously come under suspicion of corruption. In France, the investigation into the financing of his presidential campaign in 2007 by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ongoing.
The former president himself claims that the criminal cases are the judges' revenge for Sarkozy's request to limit their powers during his time in power.
