Ex-French President Sarkozy Sentenced For Corruption

Nicolas Sarkozy

A former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in jail for corruption.

Two of his corruption charges have however been suspended.

Mr Sarkozy, aged 66, has been found guilty of attempting to bribe a magistrate by offering him a prestigious job in return for information about a separate criminal case against him (Sarkozy).

He becomes the first ex-President if France to get jail sentence.

Aside the former President, his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog,
as well as the magistrate in question, Gilbert Azibert, received similar sentences.

But all three of them are likely to appeal. The judgment was made in Paris, France.

According to the ruling, Mr Sarkozy could serve a year at home with an electronic tag, instead of going to prison.

The trial judge indicated that Mr Sarkozy “knew what [he] was doing was wrong”, the judge said, adding that his actions and those of his lawyer had given the public “a very bad image of justice”, labeling his crimes as as influence-peddling and violation of professional secrecy.

French prosecutors were seeking a four-year jail sentence for Mr Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy’s predecessor Jacques Chirac, got a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for having arranged alleged bogus jobs at Paris City Hall for allies when he was Paris mayor. Chirac died in 2019.

Mr Sarkozy is expected to go on trial in a separate case from March 17 to 15 April.

That trial relates to the Bygmalion affair in which he is accused of having fraudulently overspent in his 2012 presidential campaign.

Mr Sarkozy served as president 2007 to 2012. His 2012 re-election bid was unsuccessful.

By Melvin Tarlue