Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy vigorously denounced a “plot” he said was staged by “liars and crooks” on Thursday at a Paris trial over the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the Libyan government led by former leader Moammar Gadhafi, reports ABC News.
In his first remarks since the trial started on Monday, Sarkozy, 69, said "You will never find one Libyan euro, one Libyan cent in my campaign.”
The former French president, who served from 2007 to 2012, is facing charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and criminal association, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The trial is scheduled to run until April 10, with a verdict expected at a later date.
Sarkozy, a lawyer by training, argued “groups of liars and crooks” including the “Gadhafi clan" have fed investigators with allegations. Speaking nervously with a strong voice and waving his arms, Sarkozy denounced “a plot.”
The case emerged in March 2011, when a Libyan news agency reported that the Gadhafi government had financed Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign.
Read more of this report from ABC News.
Read Mediapart's background to the trial opening here.