Libyan financing in the 2007 French presidential election

Nicolas Sarkozy's (left) 2007 presidential campaign received, through intermediaries, up to €50 million from Libya's Muammar Gaddafi (right).

Libya, at the direction of its then-leader Muammar Gaddafi, spent up to €50 million funding the 2007 presidential campaign of French politician Nicolas Sarkozy. The allegations surfaced in March 2011 from Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Muammar Gaddafi, after France intervened in the Libyan civil war. This claim was subsequently supported by former Libyan prime minister Baghdadi Mahmudi and the investigative website Mediapart, which published documents and testimony that suggested large cash transfers. Other evidence included diaries belonging to former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who was later found dead.

The French Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ) opened an official inquiry in 2013 which led to arrests and charges against several individuals close to Sarkozy, including his former chief of staff, Claude Guéant, and French-Algerian businessman Alexandre Djouhri. The probe culminated in Sarkozy's own arrest and indictment in March 2018.

Whilst investigating these allegations, a separate wiretapping operation revealed linked corruption, leading to Sarkozy's conviction in 2021 for corruption and influence peddling, though the Libyan case proceeded separately. The Tribunal de Paris ultimately sentenced Sarkozy to five years in prison for criminal association in the Libyan financing case on September 25, 2025, making him the first former French president sentenced to prison.

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