Sarkozy: Corruption charges unfair

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has denounced charges against him in connection with a probe into illegal party funding as “unfair and unfounded”.

In his first reaction to the charge laid on Thursday, Sarkozy used his Facebook page to insist that he had not taken advantage of France’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, when she was weakened by ill health.

“I want to insist that, at no moment in my public life, did I betray the duties of my office,” he wrote.

“I will put all my energy into proving my integrity and honesty. The truth will triumph in the end. I have no doubt about that.”

Lawyers are attempting to overturn a decision by three magistrates to charge Sarkozy in a case that threatens to destroy his hopes of a comeback.

He was charged after being summoned for face-to-face encounters with former members of Ms Bettencourt’s staff. The confrontation was the latest chapter in a probe into allegations Sarkozy accepted envelopes stuffed with cash from the ailing L’Oreal heiress to fund his 2007 election campaign.

Investigators suspect that up to €4m of Ms Bettencourt’s cash made its way into the coffers of Sarkozy’s UMP party. Ms Bettencourt is now 90 and has been incapacitated since 2006.

Sarkozy could face up to three years in jail, a fine of €375,000, and a five-year ban from public office if convicted.

He recently dropped hints that he is considering a return to the frontline of French politics. Against that backdrop, his lawyers have branded the decision to charge him as politically motivated.

Sarkozy remains more popular with right-wing voters than any other figure in his UMP party and a poll published on Sunday showed that nearly two thirds of the electorate do not think the scandal will prevent him from making a comeback.

He lost his immunity from prosecution when he was defeated in the 2012 presidential election by Socialist François Hollande.

The 58-year-old is the second post-war French president to be charged with a criminal offence, after Jacques Chirac, who was convicted in 2011 on corruption charges and received a two-year suspended jail term.

Sarkozy also faces probes into alleged cronyism in the awarding of contracts for opinion polls; an illegal police investigation into journalists; and alleged kickbacks on a Pakistani arms deal used to finance the right in 1995, when he was budget minister.

He has denied any wrongdoing.