France court rules against Sarkozy over diary seizures

A French court on Tuesday rejected a plea made by Nicolas Sarkozy to stop investigative judges using his diaries in a corruption case involving close aides of the former president.

The ruling is crucial as it paves the way for the potentially compromising and embarrassing diaries to be used against him in other investigations targeting Sarkozy, thereby threatening Sarkozy’s planned political comeback.

The documents were initially confiscated as part of a probe into allegations Sarkozy took money to fund his successful 2007 election campaign from France's richest woman, 91-year-old L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, when she was too frail to know what she was doing.

Charges against him were dropped in October, but 10 other people, including his former campaign treasurer Eric Woerth, have been sent for trial.

Lawyers for Sarkozy had argued that confiscating the diaries was illegal as he benefitted from immunity from prosecution while in power, saying that should extend also to documents from his time in office.

But on Tuesday, the Cour de Cassation – France's top court – said there was no need to rule on whether the seizure was legal as Sarkozy is no longer being probed in the case.

Judges investigating the Bettencourt case can therefore continue to use his diaries, which could also be of use in a separate probe into a huge payout made by the French state to disgraced tycoon Bernard Tapie in connection with the collapse of the Credit Lyonnais bank.

Sarkozy, Gaddafi, and insider information

Sarkozy is suspected of having rigged a dispute-settlement procedure to ensure Tapie got 400 million euros as a thank you for his support in the 2007 election.

The diaries are believed to show how close Sarkozy was to Tapie.

French daily Le Monde said that Sarkozy is also suspected of illegally having tried to obtain inside court information about the proceedings of the case.

A separate probe has been opened into these allegations, which are based on a phone conversation between Sarkozy and his lawyer – both of whose phones were tapped by judges probing yet another corruption case involving the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

In that case, the former president is being investigated over claims he accepted up to 50 million euros in cash from Gaddafi for his 2007 election campaign.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)