The National Financial Prosecutor's Office was merciless: Former president Nicolas Sarkozy was indeed, for the prosecutors, at the heart of a criminal conspiracy. He was described as "the real decision-maker and backer" of an "inconceivable, unheard-of, indecent" corruption deal, forged by his close associates with Muammar Gaddafi, to have Libyan money finance his 2007 presidential election campaign. "We are well aware of the giddiness that can grip a rational mind," said the prosecutor. "A minister of state who enters into a corruption pact with a bloodthirsty dictator" and makes deals with Abdullah al-Senoussi, the mastermind behind Libyan terrorist attacks in Europe, thereby "harming the memory of the 170 victims" of the 1989 bombing of a UTA DC-10 flight, as well as the memory of the Libyan people.

First, Philippe Jaeglé, deputy prosecutor, delivered a two-hour introduction, in which he responded to Sarkozy's direct attacks, he also mentioned two previous arms contracts which involved the same cast of characters. Jaeglé then denounced the "extravagant explanations" given by three former ministers (Claude Guéant, Brice Hortefeux, Eric Woerth) and the ex-president, amid a case "peppered with lies, interference, manipulation," which nevertheless led to the prosecutor's office beleiving Sarkozy was guilty. This was soon followed by an ironclad demonstration, laid out over three and a half hours by Deputy Prosecutor Quentin Dandoy.

You have 81.86% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.