Sarkozy cleared in illegal-funds case

PARIS — French investigators have dropped criminal charges against former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was accused of soliciting illegal campaign funds from the country’s richest woman.

Prosecutors said Monday that their inquiry found insufficient evidence that Sarkozy had sought and accepted campaign money in 2007 from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, 90, while she was in a frail mental state. Sarkozy won the 2007 presidential election.

The unexpected decision, which came just two weeks after a court ruled that the investigation could proceed, clears the way for Sarkozy to run for reelection in 2017. He has vehemently denied the accusations.

However, charges were maintained against 10 others in the case, including Eric Woerth, a former government minister who was Sarkozy’s treasurer in the 2007 campaign. The others include Bettencourt’s lawyer; her financial advisor; and her former companion, the society photographer Francois-Marie Banier. Their trial is expected to be held next year.

The public prosecutor in Bordeaux, where the investigation is being conducted, had said the case against Sarkozy stood no chance of success, and threatened to appeal any decision to send the former president to trial.

Sarkozy is still dogged by other legal cases, including a scandal over millions of dollars in public money paid in compensation to a controversial businessman and friend, Bernard Tapie. Sarkozy is also facing questions about the “Karachi Affair,” a corruption case linked to arms sales and a bombing in Pakistan in 2002 that killed 11 French nationals.

Before the May 2012 election campaign, Sarkozy had said that if he lost his bid for reelection, France would “never hear of me again.”

He has maintained a reasonably low profile since his defeat by Socialist Francois Hollande, but he and his entourage have begun hinting at a return to the front line of French politics to “save” the country.