"The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of criminal conspiracy in a trial in which he and aides were accused of making an alleged corruption pact with the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to receive funding for the 2007 French presidential election campaign. But Sarkozy was was acquitted of three other charges, including passive corruption and illegal campaign financing."
"Prosecutors had told the court that Sarkozy and his aides devised a corruption pact with Gaddafi and the Libyan regime in 2005 to illegally fund Sarkozy's victorious presidential election bid two years later. The court had heard that in return for the money, the Libyan regime requested diplomatic, legal and business favours and it was understood that Sarkozy would rehabilitate Gaddafi's international image."
"The autocratic Libyan leader, whose brutal 41-year rule was marked by human rights abuses, had been isolated internationally over his regime's connection to terrorism, including the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland in December 1988. Members of Sarkozy's entourage were accused by prosecutors of meeting members of Gaddafi's regime in Libya in 2005, when Sarkozy was interior minister."
Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of criminal conspiracy over an alleged pact with Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime to finance the 2007 presidential campaign. He was acquitted of charges including passive corruption, misuse of Libyan public funds and illegal election campaign funding. Sentencing has not yet been announced and an immediate appeal is expected. Prosecutors alleged the pact was devised in 2005 and involved requests for diplomatic, legal and business favours in return for funding, with an understanding Sarkozy would rehabilitate Gaddafi's international image. Members of Sarkozy's entourage met Libyan officials in 2005, and Sarkozy hosted a state visit in 2007.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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