Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Faces Charges Of Conspiracy To Flow Money From Libya

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged with involvement in a criminal conspiracy. Sarkozy is said to have used Libyan money for the 2007 election campaign.

The French Financial Crimes Prosecutor said the charge of "membership in criminal conspiracy" was filed Monday. This adds to the legal charges against Sarkozy, who in 2018 was charged with alleged "passive corruption."

It was alleged that two years ago Sarkozy was said to have benefited from embezzlement of public funds and illegal campaign financing. However, Sarkozy denied the allegations.

On his Facebook page, Sarkozy, on Friday, October 16, said he was innocent. The 65-year-old man called the allegations that he took millions of dollars from the slain ruler of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, baseless.

The scandal was first exposed in 2012. At that time the investigative website Mediapart published documents intended to show that Gaddafi agreed to give Sarkozy 50 million euros worth of money.

In 2011, when NATO-backed forces expelled Gaddafi from power, the youngest son of longtime Libyan leader Saif al-Islam told the Euronews network: Sarkozy must first return the money he took from Libya to finance his electoral campaign.

Sarkozy dismissed the accusations. He said the accusation was a babble of loyal supporters of Gaddafi who were angry at the French-led military intervention that helped end Gaddafi's 41-year rule.

Apart from allegations of Libyan cash flow, Sarkozy was indicted in two other cases. One concerns fake invoices designed to cover overspent on a failed 2012 re-election campaign. One more thing because of the alleged influence selling involving high judges.

Sarkozy is not the first former French president to go on trial. The late Jacques Chirac was sentenced to two years probation in 2011 for embezzlement and misuse of public funds while serving as mayor of Paris.