Reuters
French authorities brought preliminary charges against former President Nicolas Sarkozy for illegally financing his 2007 presidential campaign with cash from the regime of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, a judicial official said.
The charges against Sarkozy — which an official said he denied — amount to a stunning blow for a politician who just 18 months ago was seeking to recapture the presidency in France’s election last year.
Along with campaign-finance violations, Sarkozy is charged with corruption and receiving money diverted from Libya’s public coffers, the official said on Wednesday.
Evelyne Sire-Marin, a magistrate who isn’t involved in the probe, told French television that the charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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