France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation, on Dec. 18 upheld an appeal court decision that found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country’s head of state.
The courts found that Sarkozy conspired to secure a top job in Monaco for magistrate Gilbert Azibert in exchange for the inside information.
Sarkozy, who vehemently denies all the claims against him, was handed a three-year prison sentence. He appealed against the 2021 conviction.
Two of the years were suspended, and the third year was changed to electronic monitoring instead of imprisonment.
“The convictions and sentences are therefore final,” a Court of Cassation statement on Wednesday said.
Sarkozy claimed that his rights as a litigant had been flouted in terms of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and that of the Constitutional Council.
“I’m accused of having thought of helping a candidacy that was never formulated, through an intervention that was never made, in exchange for a service that was neither requested nor rendered,” Sarkozy said in the statement. “And all this based on snippets of conversations between a lawyer and his client, which are confidential by nature.”
He vowed to take the case to the Strasbourg-based ECHR.
Investigators Wiretap President’s Phone Calls
The corruption case that led to Wednesday’s ruling centered on phone conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, in February 2014.The phone calls took place at a time when investigators were probing Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign finances. They allegedly discovered that Sarkozy and Herzog were using secret mobile phones registered to the alias “Paul Bismuth” to conduct the calls.
Investigators wiretapped the phones, leading them to believe Sarkozy and Herzog promised Azibert a job in Monaco in return for confidential information about the probe into his campaign finances.
Azibert, who was at the time a senior adviser at France’s highest appeals court, did not get the job.
He was also convicted of corruption and influence peddling, as was Herzog.
Legal proceedings against Sarkozy were dropped in the case probing his campaign finances.
Prosecutors concluded that the job proposal still constitutes corruption under French law, even if Azibert did not step into the role.
Sarkozy is expected to stand trial in 2025 in a separate case in which he faces corruption and illegal financing charges related to the alleged financing of his successful 2007 presidential bid by then-Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
If convicted in that case, the former French head of state could face up to 10 years in prison. Sarkozy has also denied all wrongdoing in the case.
In his statement on X on Wednesday, Sarkozy said: “The truth will eventually triumph. At that time, everyone will have to answer to the French people.”
