Sarkozy loses bid to halt corruption trial

PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has lost his final bid to avoid a trial on charges of corruption and influence peddling, and will likely have to appear in court in the coming months, sources close to the case told AFP on Wednesday.

The country’s Court of Cassation, which rules on questions of law, ruled on Tuesday that a trial was justified for Sarkozy as well as his lawyer Thierry Herzog and a former judge, Gilbert Azibert.

That means a trial will now go ahead, according to a source close to the case and one of the defence lawyers. Sarkozy’s lawyers were not immediately available for comment.

The influence-peddling case centres on conversations between Herzog and Azibert that were tapped by investigators looking into claims that Sarkozy accepted illicit payments from the L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential campaign. They suspect Sarkozy and his lawyer were seeking information on developments in the case, with Sarkozy offering Azibert a plum job in Monaco in exchange.