Sarkozy corruption trial proves ‘no one is above the law’

DW

At a small cinema in Paris on a recent Wednesday afternoon, journalist Fabrice Arfi was talking to dozens of spectators after the viewing of his latest documentary on an affair that’s now at the center of a court case involving former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“There were tens of thousands of documents, bank statements, handwritten notes, etc. We realized we could be dealing with the biggest state scandal in French history,” Arfi recalled after a showing of the documentary called “Personne n’y comprend rien” (“No one understands anything”).

Arfi works for investigative website Mediapart, which was key to launching the decadelong investigation.

Sarkozy, France’s president from 2007 to 2012, is accused of receiving unregistered donations for his successful 2007 presidential campaign from Libya’s former dictator, Moammar Gadhafi.

In return, Sarkozy allegedly agreed to whitewash Gadhafi’s reputation in the West. Gadhafi, Libya’s ruler from 1969 until his assassination in 2011, was accused of human rights violations and financing international terrorism.

Sarkozy, 69, and 12 others are now standing trial in Paris for corruption and violating French campaign finance laws. The defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to €750,000 (about $785,000).

Details of the Sarkozy corruption case

In 2012, Mediapart published a confidential document that read that Gadhafi would be willing give Sarkozy €50 million (then around $66 million) for his election campaign. The document was signed by Libyan secret service chief Moussa Koussa. Mediapart has published more than 160 articles on the case since.

French courts have confirmed the authenticity of the confidential document, but Sarkozy has dismissed it as a “crude forgery.”

Throughout their inquiry, investigative judges, who, in France, gather evidence before cases go to trial, put together a 557-page indictment. It reads like a spy thriller, detailing trips by some of Sarkozy’s close collaborators to Libya, meetings with middlemen, suspicious money transfers and alleged suitcases filled with banknotes…