Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy returned to the witness stand on Wednesday in his appeal against a conviction for illegally accepting Libyan funds for his 2007 presidential campaign, contradicting two sworn statements from his onetime right-hand man, Claude Guéant, France 24 reported.

Guéant, 81, served as Sarkozy’s chief of staff, secretary-general and later interior minister, and was a key figure in his rise to the Élysée Palace, the news agency said. He was excused from attending the proceedings on health grounds.

The appearance marked the latest chapter in a public falling-out between the two former allies. Guéant learned in March that Sarkozy had questioned his integrity at the Paris Court of Appeal by suggesting he may have been motivated by personal financial gain, France 24 reported. Guéant fired back the following month with statements that contradicted his former boss without directly accusing him, shattering what had been a united front, the report said. 

Sarkozy was found guilty in September of having allowed Guéant and former interior minister Brice Hortefeux, another longtime associate, to negotiate illegal political funding from Libyan authorities. All three deny the charge.

In return, Libyan officials allegedly sought diplomatic and economic favors, as well as a review of the conviction of Abdallah Senoussi, the brother-in-law and second-in-command of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, according to France 24. Senoussi was the subject of an international arrest warrant after being sentenced in France to life imprisonment for ordering the September 19, 1989, bombing of a French aircraft over Niger, in which 170 people died, including 54 French nationals.

Guéant has said that Sarkozy tasked him with looking into Senoussi’s legal case, at Gaddafi’s request and in his presence, during an official dinner in Tripoli on July 25, 2007, France 24 reported. Guéant himself was convicted in September 2025 and sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the campaign funding affair.

On a fifth day of questioning, the appeals court pressed Sarkozy on that account. He denied both that Gaddafi had raised his brother-in-law’s case at the 2007 dinner and that he had asked Guéant to look into the matter. 

“The only time Mr. Gaddafi spoke to me about it was in 2005,” Sarkozy told the court, referring to a previous visit he made to Libya as interior minister, according to France 24. He said he had categorically rejected the request.

That 2005 Libya meeting was reportedly attended by Sarkozy’s friend and former lawyer Thierry Herzog and his colleague Francis Szpiner to assess Senoussi’s legal situation. Sarkozy initially claimed to know nothing of the discussions but, when confronted with evidence, eventually acknowledged that the meeting took place. He told the court he did not initiate it and that “nobody told him about this meeting,” the news agency said.

The stakes for Sarkozy are high. He spent 20 days in prison in November after being convicted on criminal conspiracy charges and sentenced to five years. If convicted on appeal, he faces up to 10 years in prison. The trial is scheduled to conclude in late May, with a verdict expected in November, according to the report.