In this file photo taken on December 5, 2018, former French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, charged with concealment, suspected of receiving part of funds from travels, arrives for his trial in Paris. (AFP)
Former French minister charged over Libya campaign fundraising scandal
Former French interior minister Claude Gueant was charged on Thursday with being part of a criminal conspiracy over allegations that ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign was funded by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Gueant was Sarkozy’s right-hand man while the right-winger was interior minister from 2005 to 2007 and then president from 2007 to 2012.
Gueant held the interior portfolio in 2011 to 2012.
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Sarkozy himself is currently on trial for corruption in a separate affair.
He had already been charged in October with being part of a criminal conspiracy over the claims that his campaign received millions of euros in illegal funding from Gaddafi.
Sarkozy, 65, has vehemently denied the claims, arguing that he was the driving force behind the international intervention against Gaddafi, who was toppled in 2011.
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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy stands trial for corruption
French ex-president Sarkozy charged over Libyan campaign financing: Prosecutors
The former president has faced a litany of legal woes since leaving office. He is also charged with illegal overspending on his failed 2012 re-election campaign.
On Monday he complained to the court trying him for allegedly trying to bribe a judge that he was the victim of years of “slander.”
