French prosecutors announced Friday they referred an investigation into former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s alleged involvement with Libyan financiers to court. Sarkozy and his twelve co-defendants will stand trial on charges such as corruption and illegal financing in 2025.

Two financial judges endorsed Sarkozy’s transfer to a criminal court for the examination of suspicions regarding Libyan funding of his presidential campaign in 2007. The former head of state denies this allegation, yet he will face court proceedings on charges of passive corruption, illicit campaign financing, unlawful conspiracy and embezzlement of Libyan state funds.

The financial judges reached their decision based upon recommendations from French prosecutors. An extensive resolution elaborated on the decade-long investigation led by France’s Anti-Corruption unit. Investigators claimed they faced numerous challenges over the course of the investigation, including the lack of political will within the country and attempted manipulations from abroad.

Sarkozy, along with his twelve co-defendants, will stand trial in 2025. Included among Sarkozy’s co-defendants are former Ministers of the Interior Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux, as well as former Minister of the Budget Eric Woerth. 

French investigators first undertook the case against Sarkozy in April 2013 based on allegations from high-ranking Libyan officials and a publication from the Mediapart newspaper between two rounds of the 2012 presidential election. The documents allegedly showed that Sarkozy’s campaign relied upon Libyan funds. In mid-June, investigators searched Sarkozy’s residence and conducted an interrogation.

The hearings are set to take place between January 6, 2025, and April 10, 2025, in the 32nd chamber of the Paris Criminal Court.

This is the third of Sarkozy’s legal proceedings concerning corruption. In May, the Paris Court of Appeals upheld a three year prison sentence for Sarkozy on corruption and influence peddling charges. Sarkozy also in the process of appealing a year-long house arrest sentence for the illegal campaign financing of his 2012 reelection bid.