PARIS—Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy fired back against allegations that he accepted campaign cash from Moammar Gadhafi, saying the late Libyan dictator’s family and associates had conspired to slander him after Mr. Sarkozy championed the military campaign that led to Gadhafi’s downfall.
French authorities brought preliminary charges Wednesday evening against Mr. Sarkozy for campaign-finance violations, corruption and accepting funds that had been diverted from Libya’s public coffers. Judges restricted his travel...