The legal battles faced by France's ex-President Sarkozy

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to start a five-year prison sentence on Tuesday after being found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a case related to efforts to obtain campaign financing from Libya during Muammar Gaddafi's rule.

The sentence was handed down last month and Sarkozy - still an influential behind-the-scenes player in French political circles - will go to jail irrespective of any appeals process.

It is the third time the former president, 70, has been convicted of fraud-related charges since his 2007-2012 term in office. Below are the legal challenges Sarkozy has faced:

LIBYAN CAMPAIGN CASH

Prosecutors had alleged Gaddafi sent Sarkozy's successful 2007 campaign millions of euros in cash, allegations that were first made by one of Gaddafi's sons.

Five months after Sarkozy was elected president, Gaddafi visited him in Paris, on his first state visit to a Western capital in decades. The Libyan leader pitched a Bedouin-style tent near the Elysee Palace.

The presiding judge said there was no proof Sarkozy made such a deal with Gaddafi, nor that money that was sent from Libya reached Sarkozy's campaign coffers, even if the timing was "compatible" and the paths the money went through were "very opaque".

But she said Sarkozy was guilty of criminal conspiracy for having let close aides get in touch with people in Libya to try to obtain campaign financing.

'INSIDE INFORMATION'

Last December, France's highest court upheld a conviction ruling against Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year – a first for a former French head of state.

Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiring to secure a plum job in Monaco for a judge in return for inside information about an inquiry into allegations he had accepted illegal payments from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 campaign.

Sarkozy will bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights, his lawyer has said. 

Sarkozy's defence team argues it was illegal to use wiretapped phone conversations made between him and his lawyer - under a false identity - as proof to convict him, and that the judge never got the Monaco job.

An appeal to the European court does not suspend the sentence.

'BYGMALION AFFAIR'

Sarkozy's conviction of illegal campaign financing over his failed 2012 re-election bid was confirmed by an appeals court on February 14, 2024. 

He has appealed to the country's top court, which may give its ruling before the end of 2025. 

Sarkozy was sentenced to a one-year prison sentence, half of which was suspended. He has always denied accusations that his conservative party worked with a public relations firm named Bygmalion to hide the true cost of his campaign - which was notable for lavish events previously unseen in French politics.

During his trial, Sarkozy put the blame on some members of his campaign team: "I didn't choose any supplier, I didn't sign any quotation, any invoice," he told the court.

France sets strict limits on campaign spending. Prosecutors said Sarkozy spent 42.8 million euros ($45.9 million) on his 2012 campaign, almost double the permitted amount.

RUSSIA

Financial prosecutors in early 2021 opened a preliminary investigation into alleged influence peddling related to activities undertaken by Sarkozy in Russia seven years after he left office.