International media reports say former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to face trial for corruption and influence peddling.
The case reportedly centers over phone calls Sarkozy allegedly made to a senior judge who was investigating claims that his 2007 presidential campaign was illegally funded.
Sarkozy is reportedly suspected of attempting to obtain secret information in 2014 via his lawyer Thierry Herzog from a prosecutor about the status of an investigation into campaign financing.
These suspicions were revealed by media outlets Le Monde and Mediapart, indicating Sarkozy's lawyer allegedly offered to help prosecutor Gilbert Azibert to obtain a prestigious posting in Monaco, in exchange for the secret information, according to CNN.
The judge and Mr. Sarkozy's lawyer have also been ordered to stand trial. They have all denied wrongdoing.
Mr. Sarkozy's team says he will appeal against the decision.
The March 29 decision to send this case to trial comes after Sarkozy, in a separate case, was put under formal investigation on March 20 under allegations of accepting money from Libyans for his 2007 presidential campaign.
The Guardian reports that Sarkozy was formally put under investigation over claims he took €50m from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in illegal donations for his successful 2007 presidential campaign, which he also denied.
In that case, Sarkozy says there is no evidence to support such a claim. "I am accused without any physical evidence," Sarkozy wrote in an opinion piece published Thursday in French Newspaper Le Figaro, according to CNN.
Nicolas Sarkozy, a center-right leader, trained as a lawyer but forged a career as a politician. He was mayor of the Paris suburb of Neuilly, and rose to be finance minister under President Jacques Chirac, before succeeding him as president in 2007. His term was overshadowed by the global economic crisis and resulting downturn.
In 2008, he married Italian supermodel and singer Carla Bruni. The couple had a daughter, Giulia, a few months before the 2012 election.
His re-election attempt was thwarted by socialist candidate François Hollande, making him the first French president since 1981 not to win a second term, according to the BBC.
His 15-hour stay in police custody in 2014 – over the allegations relating to the wiretapped calls – was also unprecedented for an ex-president in France.
Mr. Sarkozy sought the presidency again in 2016, but the Republicans instead nominated ex-Prime Minister François Fillon, who later lost to liberal Emmanuel Macron.
