GADDAFI’S MILLIONS: Sarkozy’s Campaign Cash Scandal Rocks French Elite

Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s former wheeler-dealer president, is set to face the music yet again as he heads to court on Monday over rather extraordinary claims that his 2007 campaign coffers were stuffed with Libyan cash from none other than Colonel Gaddafi himself.

Talk about rotten timing – the chap’s barely sorted out one corruption pickle when he finds himself dragged into another. This time round, prosecutors reckon they’ve got the goods on what they’re calling a proper dodgy deal: Sarkozy allegedly promised to help polish Libya’s tarnished reputation in exchange for campaign dosh from the Colonel.

The former president isn’t alone in the dock – he’s joined by three of his old minister chums in what’s shaping up to be a four-month legal marathon. If the judges aren’t impressed with his defence, Sarkozy could be looking at a decade behind bars, a whopping €375,000 fine, and a five-year ban from politics. Though at 69, perhaps he’s more worried about the prison bit than his political future.

His brief is putting on a brave face, mind you. “Complete codswallop,” is the gist of their response, backing up Sarkozy’s persistent claims that this Libyan business is “a lie.” The prosecution begs to differ, laying out a rather damning charge sheet: corruption, misuse of public funds, dodgy campaign financing, and criminal conspiracy.

Worth noting this isn’t Sarkozy’s first brush with m’learned friends. Only this December, he was found guilty of trying to butter up a top judge with a cushy job in Monaco. That little episode earned him a year’s sentence, which he’s currently serving at home with one of those electronic tags – hardly the retirement he’d planned after running France from 2007 to 2012.

As the trial gets underway, set to run until 10 April, all eyes are on this latest chapter in Sarkozy’s seemingly endless legal saga. It’s more than your average corruption case – it’s raising serious questions about the lengths politicians might go to for power and the murky world of international back-scratching.

The whispers around Paris are getting louder: did a future French president really strike a backhander with a dictator to clinch an election? For Sarkozy, who once strutted about the magnificent Élysée Palace, the answer could mean the difference between salvaging what’s left of his reputation and spending his twilight years at Her Majesty’s pleasure (or rather, La République’s).