Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was found not guilty of receiving illegal campaign financing from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for his successful 2007 presidential bid, but was pronounced guilty of criminal conspiracy in the same case.

Paris

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of criminal conspiracy in relation to his 2007 presidential campaign. The court determined that Sarkozy allowed his aides to seek financial support for his campaign, but he was acquitted of separate corruption charges. Three defendants in the case were fully acquitted, while others received partial acquittals or convictions. The case centered on accusations that Sarkozy accepted millions of euros from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, a claim he has consistently denied. The verdict was delivered as the court continued to read out sentences for Sarkozy and other defendants.

France ex-President Sarkozy convicted of criminal conspiracy

The France's former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has been found guilty of criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime. Sarkozy, though, acquitted on separate charges of corruption by the judge. The judge saying he allowed his close aides to act with a view to obtaining financial support for the campaign. Let's cross to the court. We will talk to our reporter, Claire Pacalan, who is there for us. Claire, you were in the courtroom when those judgments came through. Tell us the latest. I have just stepped out of the courtroom to speak to you. The judgments are still being read out by the judge. We have not heard what the sentence will be for Nicolas Sarkozy as well as his ministers. We do know that three of the defendants, though, have been fully cleared of the accusations against them. Those three men have all been fully acquitted. The other defendants in the case, there are 13 altogether, but two of them have died. Among those defendants, they have all been partially acquitted or partially found guilty. We are hearing and getting more information about who did what according to the judge in the courtroom just behind me. What I can tell you is from where I was sitting, I had a good view of the back of Nicolas Sarkozy's head as I stared through different people's shoulders. He was sitting right in the front row, listening intently to everything the judge had to say. His wife, Carla Bruni, is there as well as his children who come here today to support Nicolas Sarkozy, always denying that he entered into a pact of corruption with the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. As we speak, the readings, the judgement, are still being read out in the courtroom just behind me. People who are joining us may not know the details of what Sarkozy was accused of. Just explain it to us. Nicolas Sarkozy has faced various different legal woes. He has already been convicted twice and two separate trials, but this is by far the most serious accusation against him. The accusation goes that he entered into a so-called pact of corruption with the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, before his what was then a successful presidential campaign in 2007. The accusation was that he accepted millions of euros in cash from the Libyan former dictator and he used that money to fund his election campaign. Nicolas Sarkozy has always strongly denied these accusations, as have his ministers. Three of his ministers are also on trial. He has called them a fable, grotesque, ludicrous, lies driven by revenge. What is interesting and what has been making the news here in France is that one of the key defenders in this case, who accused Nicolas Sarkozy of this, he said he himself took a plane from Libya and arrived in Paris with bags stuffed with cash that went straight into the heart of France's interior ministry. Nicolas Sarkozy was interior minister at the time. He died two days ago in Lebanon. He is a Franco- Lebanese businessman and we heard in the courtroom today the judge confirming that a death certificate had reached her hands and that he had been confirmed dead. He died after a heart attack in Lebanon. He had gone to Lebanon because Lebanon does not extradite its citizens. He was convicted a few years ago in a separate trial for having taken kickbacks in arms deals between France and Pakistan. A key defendant in this trial, absent and passed away two days ago in Lebanon. We will let you get back into the court to hear the rest of the verdicts.

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