France's highest court upholds former President Sarkozy's guilty verdict

PARIS - France's highest court Wednesday upheld the guilty verdict against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for a 2012 campaign financing case.

According to prosecutors, during the 2012 presidential election campaign, Sarkozy's team spent nearly 43 million euros (almost 50 million US dollars) in campaign funds, far exceeding the legal limit of 22.5 million euros, and used methods such as falsifying accounts to conceal the excess spending.

In September 2021, Sarkozy was found guilty in the first trial and immediately appealed. In February last year, the Court of Appeal of Paris upheld the conviction for illegal campaign funding, sentencing Sarkozy to one year in prison, including six months suspended and six months to be served outside prison. Sarkozy promptly appealed to the highest court.

The court's decision to uphold the verdict this time means Sarkozy has been definitively convicted.

Sarkozy, 70, served as French president from 2007 to 2012. He currently faces multiple legal cases.

On Sept 25, Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly accepting illegal campaign funding from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Last December, France's highest court upheld Sarkozy's conviction in another corruption and abuse-of-power case, sentencing him to three years in prison, two years suspended and one year to be served under house arrest.