Former President Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged by a French court with illegal financing of his 2012 presidential campaign, and he has been sentenced to a year in prison in his home under electronic surveillance.
The investigation with Sarkozy revealed that he had received funding for his electoral campaign from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Niger in 1989. The verdict issued today is the second conviction this year against Sarkozy, who presided over France from 2007 to 2012, after he was sentenced last March to three years in prison, one of which is valid, on charges of corruption and abuse of influence in the so-called “eavesdropping” case. Three months later, Sarkozy returned to the dock in the Pygmalion case, the 2012 presidential campaign overspending. Prosecutors in the case are seeking a six-month prison sentence for financing an illegal election campaign, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a 3,750-euro ($4,500) fine. Prosecutors say accountants at the time warned Sarkozy that he would exceed the official campaign spending limit of 22.5 million euros ($27 million), but insisted on holding more events to defeat his then-election winner, Francois Hollande.
