Sarkozy Campaign Funding Trial Moves Closer

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy moved closer to facing trial over a campaign funding scandal on Thursday when a bid to halt proceedings against one of the suspects in the case was rejected.

The Paris appeal court threw out the request by the defense concerning the director of Sarkozy's unsuccessful 2012 re-election campaign, Guillaume Lambert, who is one of 14 people in the prosecution's sights.

Lawyers said the attempt to have the case against Lambert dropped was probably the last obstacle to the case going to trial, providing investigating magistrates follow prosecutors' requests to proceed.

Sarkozy, who failed last month with a bid to run again in next year's presidential election, could therefore face court.

The case focuses on public relations firm Bygmalion, which organized some of Sarkozy's campaign appearances in 2012.

Bygmalion allegedly charged 18.5 million euros ($19.3 million) to Sarkozy's party -- which at the time was called the UMP, but has since been renamed the Republicans -- instead of billing the president's campaign.

As a result, the prosecution says, the campaign was able to greatly exceed a spending limit of 22.5 million euros.

Bygmalion executives have acknowledged the existence of fraud and false billing, but no-one has directly accused Sarkozy of having been aware or taking decisions about it.

However, Lambert has told police he warned Sarkozy of the risk of breaching financing limits. 

Questioned by police in September 2015, Sarkozy said he did not recall the warning, and described the controversy as a "farce", putting the responsibility squarely on Bygmalion and the UMP.

While the campaign financing case is the most pressing, 61-year-old Sarkozy has been fighting legal problems on several fronts.

In the most sensational case against him, Sarkozy was cleared in October 2013 of accepting campaign donations in 2007 from France's richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, when she was too frail to know what she was doing.

The son of a Hungarian immigrant father, Sarkozy was nicknamed the "bling-bling" president for his flashy displays of wealth.

In a surprise result, Sarkozy was eliminated last month in the first round of a rightwing primary contest ahead of presidential elections next year.

He trailed behind the eventual winner Francois Fillon and former prime minister Alain Juppe.