Sarkozy to wear tag after losing his appeal
FORMER French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in prison after losing his appeal against a corruption conviction.
The Paris Appeal Court ruled yesterday that two years will be suspended and he can wear an electronic tag for the third year.
Sarkozy, 68, and his lawyer Thierry Herzog were found guilty in 2021 of trying to bribe a judge in exchange for confidential information.
It related to another corruption inquiry focusing on whether Sarkozy accepted illegal payments from the late L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt to fund his 2007 election campaign.
It made him the first ex-French leader to be convicted of corruption while in office.
Trial
In the same year, Sarkozy was found guilty of illegally funding his campaign for re-election and faces jail time for that offence too.
The verdict followed a five-week trial during which prosecutors said the politician was guilty of fiddling the books during his second bid to be president in 2012.
Sarkozy – who insisted his innocence all along – will now become the first head of state to be tagged as he goes about day-to-day life with third wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni, 55.
Last week, financial prosecutors also called for Sarkozy to go on trial for an alleged “corruption pact” with the late Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.
Sarkozy is accused of accepting at least £42million in cash from the dictator to fund an election campaign.
Jacques Chirac, his predecessor as president, received a two-year suspended term in 2011 for corruption relating to his time as Paris mayor.