On a recent Wednesday afternoon in a small theater in Paris, journalist Fabrice Arfi was talking to dozens of viewers after watching his latest documentary on a case that is now at the center of a court case involving former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Is in.
“There were thousands of documents, bank statements, handwritten notes, etc. We realized that we could be dealing with the biggest state scandal in French history,” Arfi recalled after the screening of the documentary “Persona n’y comprend rien”. (“No one understands anything”).
Arfi works for the investigative website Mediapart, which was key to launching the decades-old investigation.
Sarkozy, who was President of France from 2007 to 2012, is accused of receiving unregistered donations from former Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential campaign.
In return, Sarkozy reportedly agreed to tarnish Gaddafi’s reputation in the West. Gaddafi, who ruled Libya from 1969 until his assassination in 2011, was accused of human rights violations and financing international terrorism.
Sarkozy, 69, and 12 others are now on trial in Paris for corruption and violating French campaign finance laws. The defendants face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to €750,000 (about $785,000).
Sarkozy corruption case details
In 2012, Mediapart published a confidential document stating that Gaddafi would be willing to give Sarkozy €50 million (then approximately $66 million) for his election campaign. The document was signed by Libyan secret service chief Moussa Koussa. Mediapart has since published over 160 articles on the case.
French courts have confirmed the authenticity of the confidential document, but Sarkozy has dismissed it as a “crude forgery”.
During their investigation, investigative judges, who in France, gather evidence before cases go to trial, draw up a 557-page indictment. It reads like a spy thriller, detailing trips to Libya by some of Sarkozy’s close associates, meetings with middlemen, suspicious money transfers and alleged suitcases full of bank notes.
One of Sarkozy’s lawyers, Christophe Ingrain, has nothing to do with what the investigating judges have called a “bundle of indicators”.
“That’s another way of saying there is no evidence. There is no conclusive trace of a bank transfer or payment, nor of how much money is alleged to have been transferred,” he told DW.
Early in the case, Sarkozy declared a “conspiracy” against him by the media and Gaddafi, who in 2011 told the media that he had financed Sarkozy’s campaign. The former French president claims Gaddafi was attempting to avenge Sarkozy, who led an international coalition. Led to the fall of the dictator in 2011.
Sarkozy has already been convicted by the final court of appeal of attempting to bribe a judge to obtain information in another case, and will soon have to wear an electronic tag for a year. He has called the decision a personal vendetta: “Some judges are leading a political fight,” he said at the time.
‘Everyone has to respect the same law’
Sarkozy’s claims are a common defense in France, where politicians regularly portray cases against him as conspiracies.
“They behave as if they were not subject to our laws – and yet, everyone has to respect the same laws,” Cécile Vigor, a researcher in sociology and political science at CNRS, France’s national research institute, told DW.
“Our study shows that the French are attached to our judicial system and have great confidence in the police, judges and lawyers. But many also feel that it is a two-tier system and that the elite often get away with it.” Is.”
Vigor thinks that emotion can have disastrous consequences.
He stressed, “If people lose trust in our judicial system, they will also lose trust in our institutions and democracy, which then becomes more vulnerable – for example, to attempts at foreign interference.”
France took steps against corruption
For Mediapart journalist Arfi, the Sarkozy case and others like it are evidence of a certain hypocrisy.
He said, “France always portrays itself as a country that proclaims human rights. But two of our former prime ministers, Alain Juppé and François Fillon, have been convicted of embezzlement. The same for former presidents Jacques Chirac and Sarkozy. The point applies.” Talking to DW.
But Alina Mungiu-Pippidi said France has been taking steps to strengthen trust in its institutions in recent decades. She is a professor of comparative public policy at the Luis Guido Carli University of Rome and runs websites comparing corruption in 146 countries.
He said, “A lot of records show that traditionally, French government parties received illicit money from various African dictators. But now, French regulation is better than EU regulation.” Higher authority for transparency in public life.
He stressed that independent media, such as Mediapart, are playing their role by exposing scams.
Mungeau-Pippidi said, “Thirty years ago, there were no investigations into corruption in France. You couldn’t report at all about politicians’ private lives or profits. They were untouchable. Now, no one is untouchable.” “
The process of the Sarkozy trial, where a verdict is expected on April 10, could show the tenacity of France’s institutions, said Vincent Braungarth, a lawyer at Sherpa, an NGO fighting corruption, and representing a civil plaintiff in the trial.
“The best response to those who question the fairness of our judicial system is to take the time to look at each element of the case in a factual manner. That’s what the court is doing. This trial will last four months, which is exceptionally long. ” “That is the case,” he said.
Edited by: Davis Van Opdorp
