Ex-French president, who intends to run for office again in 2017, may be tried over allegations around failed 2012 campaign

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

French prosecutors are to recommend that Nicolas Sarkozy stands trial over alleged irregularities in his failed 2012 re-election campaign, which could affect the former president’s hopes of returning to the Élysée Palace.

Sarkozy, who last month launched his candidacy for next year’s presidential election, has been under investigation over alleged illegal campaign finances.

Prosecutors will recommend that Sarkozy should be tried over the allegations concerning how the cost of his failed 2012 campaign reached more than double the legal limit, according to both Reuters and AFP.

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“Prosecutors are calling for all of those charged to be tried,” a source told AFP.

Sarkozy was put under formal investigation in February, when he was questioned by magistrates at the Paris financial prosecutor’s office over the claims of dual accounting and the discovery of €18m (£15.5m) in false invoices issued by the Bygmalion event organisation company.

Bygmalion organised some of Sarkozy’s campaign appearances and is accused of using false accounting. It allegedly charged the bill to Sarkozy’s party instead of the president’s re-election campaign.

As a result, the campaign was able to greatly exceed a spending limit of €22.5m, according to the prosecution. The maximum penalty he could face was a fine of €3,700, lawyers said.

The winner of a crucial centre-right primary election in November is likely to go on to face François Hollande, who beat Sarkozy in the 2012 election, and the far-right Front National leader, Marine Le Pen.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hollande and Le Pen. Photograph: DSK/AFP/Getty Images

Sarkozy’s ambitions have not been helped by a series of scandals, including allegations that he used money from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to fund his 2007 campaign, that he was involved in kickbacks from an arms deal in the 1990s, and that he tried to bribe a magistrate to get information on another corruption case.



The Bygmalion case could prove the most damaging, especially after the investigation found that Sarkozy asked for more campaign events in mid-March 2012, about two months before the vote.

His campaign director, Guillaume Lambert, has told police he warned Sarkozy of the risk of breaching financing limits. Questioned by police in September 2015, the former president said he did not remember the warning, and described the controversy as a “farce”.

In a book published last month, Sarkozy wrote: “It will no doubt be hard to believe, but I swear it is the strict truth: I knew nothing about this company until the scandal broke.”