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A French court sentenced French President Nicolas Sarkozy to three years in prison, two of which are suspended for corruption.
Nicolas Sarkozy is convicted of promising a judge a coveted position in Monaco in 2014 in exchange for information on the so-called Bettencourt case. In turn, it was about whether Sarkozy in 2007 received illicit campaign grants from stormy businesswoman Liliane Bettencourt, which he suspects was later discarded.
During the trial in December, Sarkozy’s lawyer emphasized that the judge never got the job in question. The prosecutor, whose evidence is based on recorded telephone conversations, said in turn that French law does not distinguish between attempted bribery and consummated bribery.
The prosecutor had demanded four years in prison, including two years of probation.
Sarkozy, 66, who was president from 2007 to 2012, is expected to appeal the verdict. But even if he were released in a higher court, they threaten more legal clouds of concern.
Sarkozy is accused of receiving multimillion-dollar grants in 2007 from then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, for manipulating campaign finances in 2012, and receiving illicit payments from a Russian insurance company in 2019.
The text is updated.
