Ex-French President Nicholas Sarkozy jailed over corruption

Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy (pictured) was on Monday sentenced to one year jail term after a French court found him guilty of trying to bribe a lawyer with job promise.

DW reports that since the end of his reign in 2012, Sarkozy has been battling a series of graft and influence-peddling charges that could attract 10 years jail term or $1.2 million fines. The 66-year-old is reported to have been accused of trying to get details of information about financial impropriety case in his party by promising Judge Gilbert Azibert a job in Monaco.

It is reported that the former French leader had a phone call with his former lawyer Thierry Herzog where he made a comment that he would help the judge secure a legal advisor role. The phone call is said to have been tapped by the investigators who were on his trail following graft allegations.

His defence team, led by lawyer Jacqueline Laffont have trashed such claims claiming the prosecution could not prove its case.

According to DW, Mr Sarkozy was also facing another case in which French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine had testified how the former leader received a money in briefcase from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to fund his campaigns in 2007.