Nicolas Sarkozy was charged with illegal campaign financing, stemming from allegations he overspent in his 2012 presidential bid, French prosecutors said.
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Sarkozy was also named a “material witness” concerning suspicions of forgery, fraud, and breach of trust, prosecutors said.
The case hinges on the activity of PR firm Bygmalion, which organised some of Sarkozy’s campaign appearances and is accused of using a vast system of false accounting.
Although the move does not directly lead to a prosecution, it will seriously impede his campaign to become French President once again in 2017, as he will be embroiled in legal proceeding for months in the run-up to the election.
French right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party President, Nicolas Sarkozy attends the LR National Council on February 14, 2016 in Paris.
Bygmalion allegedly charged 18.5m euros to the party instead of to the Sarkozy campaign, allowing the campaign to greatly exceed the spending limit of 22.5m euros.
The former president has repeatedly denied knowledge of dual accounting and false invoice scandal. The conservative Sarkozy remains the leader of the party, now called The Republicans, and is positioning himself to run for the presidency next year.
Four senior figures in the 2012 campaign have already been placed under investigation for alleged political financing offences, including his campaign manager and treasurer, as well as four former Bygmalion executives.
“I can say that I’m satisfied that the law in large part has been kept to and there was nothing linking President Nicolas Sarkozy to the Bygmalion case”.
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This latest investigation recently has widened beyond Bygmalion and is looking into a further 13.5 million euros in campaign spending by the UMP, of which only 3 million were declared at the time.
