On Thursday, Paris appeals court has decided to reject the legal challenge submitted by ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy and former aides to dismiss an inquiry into claims that Libyan money was used in his 2007 election campaign.
The ruling means that Sarkozy and his associates will be tried over suspicions that they had accepted millions of euros from the regime of former strongman Muammar Gaddafi, though they can still appeal to France's highest criminal court.
At that hearing, prosecutors called for the appeal to be thrown out, according to sources with information on the case.
Sarkozy has been charged over accusations by former members of Gaddafi's regime that he accepted millions from the slain Libyan dictator, some of it delivered in cash-stuffed suitcases, for his first presidential campaign in 2007.
He was charged in 2018 with taking bribes, concealing the embezzlement of Libyan public funds and illegal campaign financing.
The probe was sparked by investigative website Mediapart publishing a document in 2012 allegedly signed by Libya's intelligence chief, which purported to show that Gaddafi agreed to give Sarkozy up to 50 million euros ($58 million at today's rates).
Sarkozy denied the charges, maintaining that the document is a fake, but the courts have ruled it can be used as evidence.
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