فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
The French Financial Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday requested a seven-year prison sentence and a 300,000 euro fine against Nicolas Sarkozy in the trial concerning suspicions of Libyan financing for the former head of state’s 2007 presidential campaign.
A five-year ban from holding public office was also requested against Nicolas Sarkozy, who received these requisitions with a petrified expression. During the 12 weeks of hearings, “a very dark picture of a part of our Republic has emerged,” stated Prosecutor Sébastien de la Touanne, addressing the final stretch of the indictment.
Attacking Nicolas Sarkozy, he denounced a “frenzied quest for financing” to satisfy a “devouring political ambition,” and warned that “only a firm prison sentence and fine” will be “capable of protecting society,” and furthermore, “deprive him of certain civic rights.”
Nicolas Sarkozy “contested the facts” and “does not seem to grasp the gravity of the breaches of probity” he is accused of, added the magistrate, recalling that he has already been convicted. This is his fifth trial in five years.
Six years of imprisonment and a 100,000 euro fine were requested against Claude Guéant, three years of imprisonment and a 150,000 euro fine against Brice Hortefeux, and one year and 3,750 euros fine against Eric Woerth, the campaign treasurer.
After a break, the hearing resumed shortly after 4:00 PM with Nicolas Sarkozy present, his expression closed, taking notes. He was absent earlier in the day during the part of the indictment concerning ancillary aspects of this case, notably the possible fictitious sale of Flemish paintings by Claude Guéant and the purchase at an overvalued price of a villa in the south of France that would have concealed the embezzlement of Libyan funds.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the prosecutors depicted Nicolas Sarkozy as the “true decision-maker” and “mastermind” of a corruption pact “inconceivable, unprecedented, indecent,” forged with former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 presidential campaign.
They also detailed the diplomatic, legal, and economic “quid pro quos” allegedly promised to the Libyan regime and asserted that “traces” of cash in the victorious campaign fueled the “body of evidence” in the case.
For the prosecutors, all the offenses for which he has been on trial since January 6th are established: they asked the court to find him guilty of corruption, receiving embezzled public funds, illegal campaign financing, and criminal association.
These offenses carry a potential sentence for the former head of state, aged 70, of ten years of imprisonment, a 375,000 euro fine, and a deprivation of civic rights (hence, ineligibility) for up to five years.
“Devouring Ambition”
“Behind the image of the public figure emerges, through judicial investigations, the silhouette of a man driven by a devouring personal ambition, ready to sacrifice essential values such as probity, honesty, and integrity on the altar of power,” declared Quentin Dandoy, one of the three prosecutors, on Tuesday evening.
Sitting opposite the representatives of the public prosecutor’s office, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has vigorously proclaimed his innocence from the outset, and whose defense will plead on the last day of the trial, April 8th, raged in silence, his knees restless, sometimes offering a wry smile or unable to suppress an outraged, indecipherable remark from the press benches.
In the late afternoon, the former president of the republic reacted by publishing on his social networks, denouncing “the excessiveness of the requested sentence.”
Definitively sentenced to one year of firm imprisonment for corruption and influence peddling in the so-called wiretapping or Bismuth affair, he has been wearing an electronic bracelet on his ankle since February 7th.
In addition to the former president, the PNF is seeking charges against eleven defendants, including three former ministers: Claude Guéant, 80, absent for health reasons, as well as Brice Hortefeux, absent for “legitimate” personal reasons according to the presiding judge, and Eric Woerth.
According to the prosecution, the former, then chief of staff at the Ministry of the Interior, “negotiated” in 2005 “on behalf of Nicolas Sarkozy the corruption pact,” which was “implemented” by Brice Hortefeux.
As for Eric Woerth, as campaign treasurer, he must, according to the PNF, be convicted of complicity in illegal financing, as he allegedly concealed cash in the accounts.
Two financing channels, respectively by wire transfers and cash deliveries, were set up, according to the prosecution, two channels that correspond to the two intermediaries in this case: Ziad Takieddine (fugitive) and Alexandre Djouhri.
Also on trial are a former close associate of Nicolas Sarkozy, Thierry Gaubert, Muammar Gaddafi’s chief of staff, Bechir Saleh (fugitive), as well as two Saudi businessmen, a Franco-Djiboutian banker, and a former Airbus executive.
