Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy could face a new trial, despite his conviction for funding his presidential campaign from Libya. This time, the case is separate and relates to an attempt to influence a key witness in the same case, the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office requested on Tuesday. The prosecutor requested that Sarkozy and ten others, including his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, be brought to trial. The case concerns suspicions of collusion to influence businessman Ziyad Takieddine, who retracted his statements about Libyan funding for the 2007 campaign. These are separate charges from those for which he was already convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, according to Agence France-Presse. However, the decision to refer these individuals to trial lies with the investigating judge overseeing the case linked to Takieddine's retraction of his accusation against Sarkozy of receiving Libyan funding. This step is suspected to have been taken in exchange for financial sums. Takieddine, who died at the age of 75, had repeatedly accused Sarkozy of receiving money from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his associates, which the former president repeatedly denied. He had told the media in May 2012 that Libyan funding for the former French president's campaign was a "fact." In late 2016, he spoke to the French investigative site Mediapart about suitcases full of cash and five million euros given in 2006 and 2007 to Sarkozy, who was then Minister of the Interior, and his chief of staff Claude Guéant. Takieddine repeated these statements to the investigating judge before announcing at the end of 2020 that the former president had not benefited from this funding. Later, Takieddine said his statements had been "distorted," and this change in stance was seen by the judiciary as possible witness tampering, which led to the new charges. In its final indictment, released yesterday, the prosecutor's office requested that the former president be tried on charges of "forming a criminal gang with the aim of organized fraud" and "concealing the crime of attempting to influence a witness." On September 25, Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison for participating in a "criminal gang" after being convicted of intentionally covering up his aides' attempts to contact Muammar Gaddafi's circle in Libya to obtain funding for the campaign in which he won in 2007. He was sent to prison but appealed the decision, and the Paris Court of Appeal will hear his case between March 16 and June 3. The court released him after 20 days in custody, banning him from leaving French territory and from communicating with other defendants in the case and a number of individuals, including Justice Minister Gérard Darmanin, who visited him in prison on October 29, a move that sparked controversy. The businessman himself was being sought in the same case. Takieddine died in September.
