Sarkozy Loses Fraud Appeal, Heads to Highest Court

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy failed his appeal over a 2021 judgment for corruption and influence peddling at the Paris Court of Appeals on Wednesday, leading his attorneys to launch a last-gasp attempt to convince France’s highest court to save him.
The appeals court refused to overturn the original verdict and affirmed a three-year prison term. According to the first judgment, as two of those years were to be suspended, Sarkozy would wear an electronic bracelet instead of remaining in jail for the final two years.
Sarkozy was found guilty in 2021 by a lower court of attempting to bribe a judge after leaving office, as well as for peddling influence in return for private information concerning an inquiry into his 2007 campaign financing (bribery).
The issue at the heart of Wednesday’s verdict–dubbed the “wiretapping affair” in France–is tangentially tied to the suspicion of unlawful campaign finance dealings in advance of the 2007 election.
Investigators probing into money transfers from Libya in 2013 wiretapped two of Sarkozy’s phone lines and identified a hidden connection used by the ex-president and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog.