The case against the former president, 68, who remains an influential figure on the French right, is related to accusations that he received money from then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign.
The trial of the Libyan financing of the campaign that brought him to power is scheduled for early 2025. Previously, he will be tried in November on appeal for the illegal financing of his campaign in the 2012 elections, when he was defeated by the socialist François Hollande .
In the new case, the judges are interested in the change in the testimony of a key witness, the Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who claimed to have handed over five million euros (about $5.3 million at the current exchange rate) in cash in 2006 and 2007. .
But in 2020 he suddenly recanted, raising suspicions that Sarkozy may have pressured him to change his mind.
At least nine other people are suspected of having participated in these maneuvers, among them Mimi Marchand, considered the queen of the paparazzi in France and close to the current president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife Brigitte.
The judges consider that they have sufficient evidence that Sarkozy participated in the actions carried out by these suspects, possibly giving them his consent.
In the first half of 2021, some of the accused tried to obtain proof of the falsity of a controversial Libyan document published by the press during the 2012 presidential election on financing.
The former conservative president was also convicted in the first instance and on appeal of corruption and influence peddling, in a case about attempting to influence a judge.
Sarkozy’s lawyers, who usually appeals convictions, indicated in a statement to AFP that their client will “defend his honor” also in this latest case.