By Tangi Salaün and Ingrid Melander

PARIS (Reuters) -Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was handed a one-year prison sentence by a Paris court on Thursday after being found guilty of illegal campaign financing over his failed 2012 re-election bid.

Sarkozy (66) is not likely to be sent to prison. His appeal is anticipated, which will effectively suspend the sentence. However, the judge suggested that Sarkozy could be sent home to serve his sentence with an electronic tag.

It was the second conviction https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-politics-sarkozy-verdict-idUSKCN2AT1VG this year for Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012 and retains influence among conservatives despite falling from grace over his legal problems.

According to the prosecution, his conservative party had spent more than twice the allowed 22.5 million euro (currently $19.2 millions) on lavish campaign rallies. Then, he hired a friendly PR agency to cover the costs.

Sarkozy denied any wrongdoing. He denied being involved in any way in the planning of the presidential campaign or the expenditures during election week.

He said, “Can you see me going to a meeting about flag cost?” In June, he said the following to court. I had so much work to do.

“I didn’t have the energy to think about it after I was assured everything was in order.”

However, the court found that Sarkozy was aware of overspending but did nothing to address it. He also said that each spending was acceptable and that approval was unnecessary.

SECOND CONVICTION

Several others who faces charges were found guilty of fraud over the campaign financing and sentenced to up to 3-1/2 years in jail and hefty fines.

In March, Sarkozy was convicted of trying to influence a judge to give him confidential information for a judicial investigation. In that trial, he also denied wrongdoing.

He was sentenced in the trial to three years imprisonment, two of which were suspended. However, he has yet not been in prison while his appeal is being heard.

Sarkozy may have to take a less prominent role next year in the presidential elections due to his two convictions. Although he had no plans to run for the presidency, it was expected that he would support his party’s candidate.

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