Nicolas Sarkozy imprisoned for illegal campaign funding

Ex-French Nicolas Sarkozy has received a sentence for more than a year in prison for illegal campaign funding. he has funded his unsuccessful 2012 re-election campaign in an illegal way

This 66-year-old former president has been found guilty in a Paris court. He has spent tens of millions of euros or more on his campaign that was permitted under the law.

However, he will not go to jail. He can serve his sentence at home with an electronic bracelet, as per the court rule.

Mr. Sarkozy has denied any kind of wrongdoing based on his illegal campaign funding. He will more likely appeal against the ruling.

It is his one-year prison term for the second time. In March, he became the first president of France to receive a kind of custodial sentence. He faced charges for corruption and influence in peddling. But he remains free pending an appeal of that sentence.

In his latest trial, Mr. Sarkozy faced the accusations, with13 other defendants, over their participation in the Bygmalion scandal.

Prosecutors further said that the UMP party of the former president had splurged near the double mark of Eur22 .5 m cap on this lavish campaign rally and events. Then he tried to hide the costs. They have hired a PR firm, Bygmalion, to invoice the party and not the campaign.

On Thursday, the court in Paris, which has ruled, said that though the former president may not have known the full detailing for the fraud, he must have seen the breaching limits. Moreover, he did nothing about it.

It is the most recent legal challenge that Mr. Srkozy is facing. He has served a term of five years as a president since 2007.

In 2012 he lost his bid for re-election to socialist Francois Hollande. Since then, several criminal investigations have targeted him. Earlier this year, he received a suspended prison sentence for trying to bribe a judge in 2014.

Credits: BBC