Brief | The Price of Influence
- Thea Choueiry
- 12 hours ago
- 7 min read
How Nicolas Sarkozy’s journey from a reformist politician to a convicted felon redefined French politics
The 2007 presidential elections marked a turning point for France. Nicolas Sarkozy, the candidate who promised to modernize the Republic and restore France’s global authority, was elected as the new French president. To many, he appeared as a reformist, determined to turn the page on France’s stagnant political age. However, behind the scenes of his campaign, a more discreet story was being written.
Since 2005, clandestine relationships between France and Libya had reportedly begun to multiply. On one hand, Muammar Gaddafi, the de facto leader of Libya, needed Sarkozy’s support to reintegrate himself into the international scene after years of diplomatic isolation. On the other, Sarkozy was seeking funding for his 2007 campaign – one of the most expensive in modern French history. The transfers and phone calls were concealed behind a web of intermediaries who formed the network of the operation: Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, Libyan senior official Bachir Saleh, and Sarkozy’s French right-hand man Claude Guéant – all under the vigilance of Abdallah Senoussi, head of Libya’s military intelligence.
Two years prior to the elections, visits between Tripoli and Paris took place under the official pretext of anti-terrorism cooperation and migration control – a diplomatic gesture that, in reality, marked the beginning of the Corruption Pact. Sarkozy met with Gaddafi’s associates behind closed doors, in discussions that blurred the line between diplomacy and personal ambition. These meetings laid what investigators would later call the very foundation of the illicit agreement between the two leaders.
In 2006, the exchanges between the two capitals took tangible form with the first financial flows. A network of complex offshore transfers was set up, which allowed about half a million euros to pass through Bachir Saleh’s channels before landing in an account tied to a Sarkozy aide, labeled “NS campaign.”
By the end of 2006, Takieddine claimed to have personally delivered €5 million in cash, packed in three suitcases, to Guéant and Sarkozy. In parallel, Libyan government officials promised to provide as much as €50 million in support of the campaign, a claim which was later confirmed by notes from the officials who had recorded related payments. Sarkozy’s victory in May 2007 was followed by an immediate acknowledgment from Tripoli: a phone call from Gaddafi congratulating him and speaking of “a new page in Franco-Libyan relations”. Thus, the circle between finance, diplomacy, and ambition was sealed: a pact secured in secrecy, at the crossroads of political and personal interests.
The Diplomatic Honeymoon
A new chapter in French diplomacy was revealed in December 2007; critics were perplexed by the country's embrace of a dictator who had previously been despised by the international community. During that time, Muammar Gaddafi paid France a five-day state visit – his first in 34 years. Welcomed by President Sarkozy, the Libyan leader was painted as a partner rather than an outcast. This visit was marked by billion-euro contracts, including arm deals and nuclear-powered desalination, aimed to normalise Franco-Libyan relations, and showcase a former international pariah as an ally in reform. The tensions that were once evident between the two countries had begun to thaw into what appeared, at least to the public eye, to be a tentative and provisional partnership.
Unfortunately, the façade of this alliance was merely ephemeral and by 2011, it had been completely shattered by mistrust and the collision of pride. Its decadence can be traced back to many unfulfilled economic promises and frustration caused by Libya’s erratic handling of deals; which, eventually, failed to materialize, pushing French officials to reassess Libya’s reliability, and the controversy surrounding Gaddafi’s state visit that was widely condemned in France over human rights concerns. The most significant and decisive factor, however, was Gaddafi’s public criticism of western powers by denouncing their leaders at the United Nations’ convention in 2009 – turning the short-lived partnership between both governments into a political embarrassment for France.
The Fracture
In 2011, only four years after welcoming the Libyan leader with open arms, France became the first occidental power to call for his overthrow. This sudden turnaround marked a breaking point in the relationship sustained by the two countries. Officially, France’s intervention aimed to protect the civilians of Benghazi whose lives were being threatened by the Libyan government’s loyalist forces. In reality, Sarkozy’s decision to partake in the military intervention against his once ally revealed far more than a humanitarian pretext: it was an attempt at restoring his damaged credibility, and distance the presidency from the rising corruption allegations.
When the Libyan uprising erupted in February 2011, Gaddafi retaliated with extreme ferocity and viciousness. France saw this as an opportunity to reposition itself as leader of a humanitarian intervention. By establishing itself as the First Nation to recognize the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), the French government signaled a decisive rupture with the Gaddafi regime, and positioned itself as the leading Western power shaping the post-revolutionary order in North Africa.
On March 19th 2011, France launched Operation Harmattan: the name for its participation in the international coalition to end Gaddafi's reign. Throughout the following days, France established its power and superiority over Libya by launching airstrikes, destroying Libyan air defense systems and missile sites, and neutralizing armored columns heading toward rebel-held cities.
October 20th marked the end of Gaddafi’s rule after he was captured and executed. For France, the mission was accomplished, allowing President Sarkozy to redeem himself of what had been his most criticized mistake: the decision to embrace a violent ruler.
From Revelations to Manipulations
The divulgence of the corruption pact came from Saif Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi’s son, in 2011 when he publicly admitted that the Libyan government had financed Sarkozy’s presidential campaign in exchange for an unfulfilled promise: helping the Libyan people. Furthermore, he claimed that the documents and bank payslips would be published in retaliation to the French government’s decision to participate in the overthrow of his father’s regime.
At first, dismissed as propaganda made to strike back at western powers, this declaration resurfaced with the discovery of an official Libyan document that confirmed the allegations by the French media outlet Mediapart one year later. The note, dated December 2006, was retrieved from the archives of Libya’s foreign intelligence services, providing the first tangible evidence of an agreement to finance Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign with up to €50 million.
Resurfacing between the two rounds of the 2012 presidential elections, the news spread promptly, seriously damaging Sarkozy’s credibility as he sought to run for president once again. In an attempt to salvage his integrity, his team dismissed all the claims, even going as far as suing Mediapart for defamation and forgery of documents.
In April 2013, a formal investigation into the corruption pact was officially opened by the French judiciary, and over a year later, Sarkozy was arrested and taken into custody for corruption and influence peddling. Investigators had traced complex networks involving the usage of secret telephones, aliases, and additional Libyan transfers identified in different accounts. This marked a watershed moment where the affair that was originally based on mere rumors and allegations moved to scrutiny and close investigations.
From the Elysée to La Santé
After years of legal battles, Nicolas Sarkozy’s judicial troubles worsened dramatically. In 2023, he was sentenced to one year in prison to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet for the Bismuth affair due to an attempt to bribe a judge of the Court of Cassation. A year later in 2024, he received another sentence after the Bygmalion affair for illegal financing of his 2012 campaign. Together, these convictions were paving the way for the impending Libyan funding trial.
On January 6th 2025, the Sarkozy-Gaddafi trial finally started, marking the culmination of several years of investigation. Thirteen defendants faced thirty-eight hearings that retraced the web of financial transactions. On September 25 of that same year, the fall of the verdict sent shockwaves through France: Sarkozy was found guilty of criminal conspiracy with five years in prison and a €100,000 fine. To counter the judgment, Sarkozy denounced it as a “scandalous injustice”.
By October, Sarkozy was scheduled to begin serving his sentence at the prison La Santé. His incarceration marked an unequalled moment for the modern French republic: for the very first time, a former president had been imprisoned. This affair split public opinion between Sarkozy’s loyalists, who saw him as a victim of an unjust and vicious judicial system, and his critics, who viewed this sentence as long-overdue.
The political world realized on November 10th 2025 that with power comes a certain degree of privilege. On that day, the former president was released from prison after only 20 days that he qualified as “very hard”. Even during his short-lived imprisonment, he was held in a so-called VIP wing of La Santé, a section reserved for high-profile inmates. His early release, a sign of his privilege that was justified on grounds of comfort, symbolized the imbalance of justice between the political elite and ordinary citizens.
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