The French Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for illegally financing his 2012 election campaign, the BBC reports.
Sarkozy was found guilty of overfunding his campaign, which he then hired the PR firm Bygmalion to cover up. The former president was sentenced to a year in prison in 2024, with six months of that suspended, meaning he would have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet instead of going to prison. Sarkozy has denied all charges.
Prosecutors in the case said Sarkozy spent almost twice the 22.5 million euros allowed during the campaign.
To hide the costs, he asked Bygmalion to invoice the party, not the campaign.
In September this year, Sarkozy was also sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy. The politician spent 20 days in prison before being released from prison in early November. The appeals court in the case will be held next year. Until then, Sarkozy is prohibited from leaving France and must be under police supervision. A few days after his release, the politician’s team announced that he was writing a book about the three weeks he spent in prison.
Read also: Sarkozy: Prison is gruelling