Why Nicolas Sarkozy faces trial over claims he sought inside information from judge
Barely a week after Nicolas Sarkozy was placed under formal investigation over Libyan funding of his 2007 presidential campaign, the former president has been hit by a new legal blow. Judges have ruled he must stand trial on corruption and influence peddling charges over claims that he tried to get a senior judge to leak him crucial information about the progress of a case involving him. In return the ex-head of state is said to have promised to help get the judge a plum post in Monaco. Mediapart's legal affairs correspondent Michel Deléan explains the background.
ItIt is yet more bad news for Nicolas Sarkozy on the judicial front. On March 29th, 2018, Le Monde revealed that the former head of state is to be sent for trial on charges of corruption and influence peddling. The charges relate to claims that the former president tried to get crucial information from a judge about the progress of a legal case involving him, in return for which he offered to help get that judge a prize posting in Monaco. The judge in question, Gilbert Azibert, will stand trial on similar charges as will Sarkozy's friend and lawyer Thierry Herzog. Herzog also faces a charge of breaching professional secrecy rules, and Azibert one of receiving the results of that breach. All three men deny any wrongdoing.
