FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy faces five years in prison after being found guilty of “criminal conspiracy” in a plot involving $50million in laundered cash from Colonel Gaddafi.
Judges sitting at the Paris Correctional Court ruled that the cash from the late Libyan dictator helped Sarkozy, now 70, with his electioneering.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and his wife Carla Bruni, right, arrive at the courthouse[/caption]
He was been found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a plot involving laundered cash from Colonel Gaddafi[/caption]
It followed a three-month trial that ended in April, and which also involved 11 other defendants, including three of Sarkozy’s former ministers.
The verdict also came just two days after the death of a key witness and relative of George Clooney’s wife, Lebanese arms dealer Zaid Takieddine.
Sarkozy was acquitted of “receiving stolen public funds” and “passive corruption”.
But he still faces up to five years in prison for conspiring with former ministers including ex-chief of staff, Claude Guéant, now 80, who was found guilty of “passive bribery, forgery, and influence peddling”.
Brice Hortefeux, 67 and another senior Sarkozy minister, was found guilty of “criminal conspiracy”.
Prosecutors proved that Sarkozy’s “closest aides” used the money from Muammar Gaddafi to fund his election campaign in 2007.
