Former French president Nicholas Sarkozy loses corruption appeal, to wear tag as sentence upheld

A French appeals court has upheldformer President Nicolas Sarkozy’s three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling on Wednesday (May 17) following which hewould have to wear a tag and serve his time at home instead of going to jail.The appeals court ratifiedhis one-year detention term at home with an electronic bracelet and barred him from public service for three years for attempting to obtain favours from a judge in a wiretapping case.

The 68-year-old left the courtroom without commenting, but his lawyer indicated they will appeal the ruling to France's highest appeals court, the Court of Cassation.

Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has been caught upin legal issuessince leaving office.

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In March 2021, he was sentenced to prison as France’s first post-war president after a court concluded that he and his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had made a "corruption pact" with judge Gilbert Azibert in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated.

Investigators wiretapped Sarkozy’s two official phone lines and identified a third unauthorised one under the name "Paul Bismuth" taken out in 2014, through which he spoke with Herzog.

The contents of these phone calls were the catalyst for the 2021 corruption verdict.

The former leader denied the claims immediately and filed an appeal.

Sarkozy stated on the opening day of the appeals hearing in December last year that he had "never corrupted anybody."

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His discussions with Herzog were played in court and played a key part in determining the judgement on Wednesday.

The so-called Bismuth case is only one of numerous investigations against the man dubbed the "hyper-president" while in office.

Sarkozy’s full sentence was three years in prison, including two years suspended and one year that could be served at home with an electronic bracelet.If Sarkozy challenges the verdict in the highest court, any potential sentence will not begin until that court has ruled.

Sarkozy will be retried on appeal in the so-called Bygmalion case, in which he was originally sentenced to one year in jail, beginning in November 2023.

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The prosecution accused Sarkozy's team of spending nearly twice the legal limit on his expensive 2012 re-election campaign, using fake billing from a public relations agency named Bygmalion. He has denied any misconduct.

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On Thursday, French prosecutors ordered that he stand trial again for suspected Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign.

Prosecutors allege that Sarkozy and 12 others solicited millions of euros in finance from the regimeof then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for the ultimately successful campaign.

Sarkozy is accused of corruption, illicit campaign finance, and hiding misappropriation of public funds, although he denies all the charges.

Prior toSarkozy, the only French leader to be convicted in a criminal trial was his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who was awarded a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption in a fake jobs scandal when hewas the mayor of Paris.

(With inputs from agencies)

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