French trial on Sarkozy graft case set for fall

By Cindi Cook

PARIS (AA) - In a first for a court case against a former French president, this October, Nicolas Sarkozy will stand trial on corruption charges, accused of trying to obtain classified information from a judge, the court announced Thursday.

The charge is just one in of several that Sarkozy, 64, faces. The ex-president is said to have sought through his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, classified information in 2014 from then-judge Gilbert Azibert about an investigation that has since been dismissed. The exchange involved Sarkozy's help in garnering Azibert a comfortable post in Monaco.

Sarkozy held office from 2007 to 2012. He has denied all of the charges against him.

Back in October the highest French appeals court also rejected a bid by Sarkozy to avoid facing trial over alleged illegal campaign financing. Prosecutors allege he spent almost €43 million ($47.8 billion) on his failed 2012 re-election bid -- almost double the legal limit of €22.5 million -- by using fake invoices. If found guilty, Sarkozy could face jail for up to a year as well as a fine. No date has been set for this, a separate trial, as of yet.

Further accusations involve Sarkozy's acceptance of millions of euros from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi towards his first presidential campaign in 2007.

The legal proceedings this fall are expected to last from Oct. 5 to Oct. 22. Sarkozy is the first French ex-president to stand trial on corruption charges. The first former president to be put on trial was Jacques Chirac, who was found guilty in 2011 of embezzlement and misuse of public funds while mayor of Paris.

The interception of telephone conversations between Sarkozy and Herzog, carried out as part of the probe into the Libyan financing allegations, gave rise to the allegations set to be tried this fall.