Nicolas Sarkozy unequivocally condemned the illegal financing of his campaign in 2012, following the rejection of his appeal to the Supreme Court

In this case, the former President of the Republic was sentenced to one year in prison, including six months, by the Paris Court of Appeal on February 14, 2024.

This is Nicolas Sarkozy’s last resort under French law in this matter. The Court of Cassation delivered its verdict on Wednesday, November 26, in the Bygmalion case. France’s highest court rejected the appeal filed by the former President of the Republic, who on 14 February 2024 was sentenced to one year in prison, including six months, by the Paris Court of Appeal.

This decision thus clarifies his conviction for illegal financing of his second presidential campaign, in 2012, which he lost to François Hollande. This is in accordance with the Advocate General’s request submitted at the session on 8 October.

In this case, investigations revealed that a double billing system had been implemented to hide candidate Sarkozy’s explosive campaign spending. The amount has reached almost 43 million euros, with the maximum amount permitted at 22.5 million. Most of the costs of the meeting were borne by his party, the UMP, which later became Les Républicains, under the guise of a fictitious convention. The former head of state was accused of taking advantage of illegal political funding as a candidate. At the first level and appeal level, Nicolas Sarkozy sued “with full vigor of all criminal responsibility”, reproach “fable” And “lie”.

The Court of Cassation’s decision comes as Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed under judicial supervision since November 10, after spending less than three weeks behind bars at Santé prison in Paris. The detention followed his five-year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy in a case involving alleged Libyan funding of his first presidential campaign, in 2007. He was found guilty of allowing two of his closest collaborators, Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, to initiate talks with the intention of secretly funding Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The former head of state declared himself innocent. The appeal hearing in this case is scheduled for March 16 to June 3, 2026.

This is not the only legal process that mentions Nicolas Sarkozy. Nearly a year ago, the Court of Cassation finalized his sentence to one year in prison under an electronic bracelet for corruption and influence peddling in the wiretapping case, also called “Paul Bismuth”. The former President of the Republic, aged 70, wore this electronic bracelet from February to May. Thanks to an appeal filed due to his age, he was later able to withdraw it. He appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which has yet to hear his appeal.

Nicolas Sarkozy has also been indicted, since October 2023, in another case in Libyan affairs: he allegedly took part in an operation aimed at obtaining, in exchange for remuneration, the dismissal of charges in the case of suspected Libyan funding, formulated by the French-Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine, who has since died. Additionally, another investigation involving the former Republican President is underway. His lucrative activities as a consultant in Russia have been the subject of a preliminary investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office since 2020 into possible influence peddling.