At a time when many people across the globe holding high offices or having money power and political clout are continuing to evade the laws despite their wrongdoings – economic or political-, it does great credit to the French legal system that it could send former President Nicolas Sarkozy to jail for corruption. For the first time in the history of the French Fifth Republic, the Paris criminal court sentenced Sarkozy to serve time in prison for five years. It has found him guilty of the charge of “criminal conspiracy,” with the help of his close associates, to indulge in corruption “at the highest possible level” when he was a candidate in the 2007 presidential election.
The case relates to alleged Libyan funding of his 2007 presidential election campaign. The verdict is apt considering the seriousness of the accusation against him. The ruling brought back memories of Sarkozy’s hobnobbing with Muammar Gaddafi, one of the world’s most infamous dictators. The four months of hearings, during which Sarkozy continually pleaded his innocence and contended that there was no evidence against him, fully exposed the weakness of his testimonies. The prosecution revealed a web of corruption and the modus operandi of the perpetrators of fraudulent transactions between Sarkozy’s men and high-ranking Libyan officials.
Also Read
According to the court, these “secret meetings” would only make sense “due to the need to obtain funds” for Sarkozy’s campaign. As per French law, mere preparation to commit an offence is sufficient to establish a charge of criminal conspiracy, and it was through this angle that the court brought to light the defendants’ serious conduct that ran counter to principles of morality and national independence.
It has taken over 10 years from the time of the initial suspicions of gross wrongdoing to the final judgement of the court. This is not the proverbial law’s delay. On the contrary, it is proof of the determination that the investigators showed to piece together facts ferreted out by the investigative journalism website Mediapart that could otherwise have remained buried in the heat and dust of an election campaign.
This is a triumph of democracy as justice has finally been done. It is heartening to note that the judiciary could not be manipulated as is being done in many countries and the court has reassuringly sent across the message that no one is above the law. This is all the more important when public trust of politicians has severely eroded. Eruption of violent protests by ordinary citizens and young groups in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are glaring instances of how the people can even resort to lawlessness to end corruption and nepotism of those whom they have entrusted with the task of running the government and working for their welfare.
Significantly, the head judge, Nathalie Gavarino, justified the sentence by saying the facts of the case were of an “exceptional gravity” and “likely to undermine citizens’ trust.” The French judiciary has for some time been trying to restore the people’s faith in democratic principles by ensuring that wrongdoers holding high offices are punished with immediate effect. The fact that Judge Gavarino’s sentence was given in the same spirit was a shock to the Far-Right politician Marine Le Pen. After a nine-week trial, Marine Le Pen had been found guilty in March of the embezzlement of European parliamentary funds through a fake jobs scam of an unprecedented scale and duration. She was banned from running for office for five years with immediate effect, which could prevent her from making a fourth bid for the French presidency in 2027.
Sarkozy, on the other hand, has already been convicted in two separate cases and stripped of France’s highest distinction, the Legion of Honour.
The wheels of justice appear to be turning so that high dignitaries are not spared for criminal acts. There cannot be one system of justice for the rich and another for the poor.
