: A French case, a European warning (Transparency International)

13/03/2026: A French case, a European warning

Two men and two ambitions. Secret meetings, briefcases of cash crossing the Mediterranean and a Bedouin tent pitched in the heart of Paris. It could be the plot of a thriller series. It is not. But a new season begins on Monday. 

The story goes back to 2005. Nicolas Sarkozy, then French Interior Minister, saw his moment to run for the country's presidency. In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi wanted back onto the world stage after decades of isolation following his regime's alleged support for international terrorism. 

Two years later Sarkozy won the election. According to prosecutors, millions of euros travelled during that period from Libyan state entities and intelligence services. The destination: accounts that appear to be linked to intermediaries close to Sarkozy's inner circle. The funds, prosecutors allege, were intended to finance his 2007 presidential campaign – a charge the court ultimately did not uphold. 

The same election year, the Libyan leader travelled to Paris for a five-day official visit, widely criticised for its extraordinary pomp and excess.

The intricate web of money flows and intermediaries took nearly twenty years to reach a courtroom. Gaddafi did not live to see it. In 2011, when the Arab Spring reached Libya, an armed revolt aided by NATO airstrikes ended his four-decade rule. He was captured and killed by militias as he attempted to flee. 

Last year, when the case finally reached trial, Sarkozy was convicted of criminal conspiracy and sentenced to five years in prison. He served twenty days before being released, later publishing a memoir about the experience that topped French sales charts in its first week.

A conviction that satisfied no one ​​​​​​

The court convicted Sarkozy of criminal conspiracy but dismissed charges of corruption, embezzlement of public funds and illegal campaign financing. Both Sarkozy and the public prosecutor appealed. Hearings are scheduled in Paris from 16 March to 2 June. 

Transparency International France is participating in the appeal as a civil party, challenging several aspects of the ruling. The core argument: Sarkozy held public authority at the time of his campaign and was aware of the actions carried out by those around him. The presence of civil society in corruption proceedings is a safeguard against impunity – it ensures that citizens, those harmed first and foremost by corruption, are represented in court. 

The five-year prison sentence landed in a deeply polarised climate, amplified by social media. Since the ruling, Sarkozy's supporters have cast doubt on the judiciary's impartiality, while critics consider the sentence too lenient. That division crossed a serious line when the judge who delivered the verdict received death threats. This was not political theatre. It was an attack on the rule of law.

Transparency International France is also using the appeal to seek recognition of the harm caused by such attacks. Judicial independence is not an aspiration. It is the condition under which citizens can hold those in office to account, regardless of rank.
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The cost of waiting twenty years 

The Sarkozy case is a symptom of a deeper problem that risks becoming chronic. Seven in ten Europeans consider corruption to be widespread in their country, according to a 2025 Eurobarometer survey. France was among several European countries that recorded declining scores in our latest Corruption Perceptions Index. Even established democracies are losing ground.  

France’s judiciary demonstrated it can function independently even when the accused is a former head of state. That principle held. Yet the case exposes a structural weakness that Europe rarely confronts with urgency: the persistent under-resourcing of its judicial institutions. Nearly twenty years passed between the alleged crimes and the opening of the trial. When cases take that long, those in power have little reason to fear accountability and citizens draw a damaging conclusion: that punishment can be evaded.  

The EU Anti-Corruption Directive, which will be formally adopted later this month, provides an opportunity to respond to the concerns of European citizens and strengthen anti-corruption action across the EU. Importantly, it will require member states to grant civil society organisations standing rights in corruption cases, which currently only exists in a handful of EU countries.  

Two seasons in: impunity, then conviction. The third starts on 16 March. Transparency International France will be in the room. Beyond the outcome of the appeal, the question is whether the full story will ever be told, and whether this trial will change anything at all.