Sarkozy retired from political life after failing to secure the nomination from his rightwing Republicans party for the 2017 presidential election, won by centrist Emmanuel Macron.
Sarkozy has denounced the charges, saying he was unaware of the fraud by executives at the public relations firm Bygmalion, who are also among a total of 13 people likely to face trial. But that ruling concerned just $406,000 of overspending in the campaign, and came before revelations of the "Bygmalion affair" and fake billings.
On Friday, the Constitutional Council ruled that a criminal trial was justified on the grounds that it concerned "the potential breach of probity by candidates or elected officials."Sarkozy retired from political life after failing to secure the nomination from his rightwing Republicans party for the 2017 presidential election, won by centrist Emmanuel Macron.