Nicolas Sarkozy, former president of France and man who has collected criminal convictions the way other retirees collect stamps, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2023 for his role in an alleged corruption pact with Muammar Gadhafi's Libya. A Paris court found that Sarkozy and associates had reached out to Libyan authorities to obtain financial support for his presidential campaigns, offering favors in return — including discussions about the judicial fate of Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi, nuclear energy financing, and help rehabilitating Libya's international pariah status. The court acknowledged it could not prove Libyan money actually landed in Sarkozy's campaign accounts, but noted, with admirable legal tidiness, that under French law a corrupt scheme is still a crime even when the cash can't be traced. Sarkozy denied everything, as he has denied everything across multiple prosecutions. The verdict added to his earlier conviction for corruption and influence-peddling in a separate case involving a judge. France's former head of state has now accumulated more courtroom appearances than most defense attorneys.