KEY POINTS
- France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Chirac, and François Fillon were convicted of corruption and misuse of public funds.
- Brazil’s incumbent president Lula da Silva was convicted of corruption in 2017.
- Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was sentenced to six years for billion-dollar fraud.
- Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and linked to multiple scandals.
- South Korea’s Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 22 years for corruption.
- Malaysia’s Najib Razak was jailed for the 1MDB scandal.
- Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu faces fraud and bribery trials; Ehud Olmert served 16 months for corruption.
- South Africa’s Jacob Zuma was sentenced for accepting bribes in a $5 billion arms deal.
In recent years, strong democracies around the world have been cracking down on former leaders accused of corruption and misuse of power. The crackdown aims to ensure accountability for powerful corrupt leaders. This may be the purest form of protecting democratic ideals and values.
Strong democracies are usually competent enough – and the judicial system independent enough – to prosecute politicians, including top leaders, who commit corruption and misuse authority while in power.
From the Americas to Asia, these cases underline the resilience of democratic principles and the rule of law. Here is a look at notable cases worldwide.
France – Multiple leaders convicted
France has seen multiple high-profile prosecutions and convictions of its former leaders. In 2021, former President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling, making him the second president in French history to be convicted of a crime.
The case centred on Sarkozy’s attempts to obtain confidential information from a judge about an investigation into his campaign finances in exchange for helping the judge secure a prestigious job. He was sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended.

Earlier this year, Sarkozy lost an appeal and is now required to wear an electronic bracelet as part of his sentence. Sarkozy also faced penalties for illegal campaign financing in his 2012 re-election bid.
Earlier, Jacques Chirac, president from 1995 to 2007, was convicted in 2011 for embezzlement during his tenure as mayor of Paris.
Read Also: US Senator Found Guilty on All Counts in Corruption Trial
Ex-Prime Minister Francois Fillon was sentenced to four years, with three years suspended, in 2020 for fraud and misuse of public funds.
Brazil – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
In October 2022, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, won the closest election in the country’s history over Jair Bolsonaro. It was actually a re-election for Lula, who also held the office from 2003 to 2010, but there was a criminal conviction in the meantime.

In 2017, Lula was convicted in an international corruption scandal. He was accused of accepting a beachfront apartment from a construction firm in exchange for political favours. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. However, his conviction was annulled in 2021 due to procedural issues, allowing him to return to power in 2022.
Lula is serving as Brazil’s president and awaiting a fresh trial.
Argentina – Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Argentina’s former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who led the country from 2007 to 2015, was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from holding public office in 2022, after being convicted in a billion-dollar fraud case.

Fernandez de Kirchner, who said that she would appeal the verdict, continued to serve as Vice President until her term ended last December.
Colombia – Alvaro Uribe
In Colombia, former president Alvaro Uribe, who served from 2002 to 2010, has faced allegations of witness tampering and links to paramilitary groups accused of human rights violations.
In 2020, the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia placed Uribe under house arrest while it investigated allegations of bribery, witness tampering, and crimes against humanity. Uribe was accused of sponsoring paramilitary forces during his time as governor.

Uribe has since been released from house arrest while investigations continue.
Italy – Silvio Berlusconi
Italy’s four-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was convicted in 2012 for tax fraud. In 2013, Berlusconi was convicted of sex with an underage prostitute in what became known as the “bunga bunga” case. He was cleared on appeal in 2015.
Other cases saw him serve a year of community service for tax fraud in 2012 and receive a year’s jail sentence for breaching confidentiality after he arranged for a police wiretap of one of his political rivals to be leaked and published in a newspaper.

He did not actually serve time in jail due to his age. Berlusconi said he was being targeted by left-wing Milan prosecutors who were pursuing a vendetta against him.
Croatia – Ivo Sanader
Ivo Sanader, Croatia’s prime minister from 2003 to 2009, has been in jail since 2011 for war profiteering and corruption. His conviction serves as a landmark case in Eastern Europe’s efforts to combat high-level corruption.

South Korea – Park Geun-hye
In South Korea, former president Park Geun-hye served five years in prison after having been found guilty on corruption charges. Park was president from 2013 to 2017. The court found she pressured South Korean companies to give millions to foundations run by a friend and sentenced her to 22 years in prison in 2018. She was released early at age 69 because of poor health.

Park’s misdeeds were orchestrated by longtime friend and unofficial adviser Choi Soon-sil.
She was impeached in 2017 and subsequently convicted of abuse of power and coercion for colluding with a close friend, Choi Tae-min. Choi was found to have used her connection to Park to pressure conglomerates for millions of dollars in donations.
However, in late 2021 Park was pardoned by then president Moon Jae-in and released from prison.
Malaysia – Najib Razak and Muhyiddin Yassin
Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister from 2009 to 2018, is serving a 12-year prison sentence for his involvement in the 1MDB scandal. Billions of dollars were embezzled from the state fund, with Najib allegedly pocketing significant sums.

Malaysia’s former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin was charged with abuse of power and money laundering in connection with the awarding of government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pakistan – Imran Khan
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is in jail on charges of corruption and other allegations. Imran Khan is facing charges of corruption, contempt of court, and rioting against state institutions.

Thailand – Yingluck Shinawatra
Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s first female prime minister, was sentenced in absentia to five years for negligence over a rice subsidy scheme that caused billions in losses. Yingluck fled the country in August 2017 just as she was due to appear for a verdict. She was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail.

Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Olmert
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has faced charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust since 2019. The allegations involve media manipulation and illicit gifts.
Despite criminal proceedings, Netanyahu returned to power in November 2022. He previously served as Israel’s prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021.
In 2019, Israel’s attorney general recommended that Netanyahu be indicted on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust outlined across three cases known as cases 1000, 2000, and 4000. He was officially indicted in 2019.
Case 1000 includes allegations of the Netanyahu family receiving gifts in exchange for political favours for wealthy allies. Case 2000 alleges that Netanyahu benefited from a proposed deal with Arnon Mozes, owner of Israel’s largest newspaper. The deal involved Netanyahu passing legislation to weaken Mozes’ competitors in exchange for positive coverage of the prime minister.

Case 4000, the most serious of them all, accuses Netanyahu of using his position as communications minister to promote the business interests of Shaul Elovitch, a controlling shareholder of Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecommunications company. In return, Netanyahu gained editorial control over Walla, a news site owned by Elovitch.
Earlier, former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, served 16 months in prison in 2016 and 2017 for taking cash from an American businessman and bribes in connection with a housing project when he was mayor of Jerusalem, from 1993 to 2003.
Egypt – Hosni Mubarak
Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, along with his two sons, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2015 for embezzling state funds. Mubarak,
who was ousted during the Arab Spring in 2011, was also convicted for inciting the killings of protesters. He died in 2020.

Sudan – Omar al-Bashir
In 2019, Sudan’s former president Omar Hassan al-Bashir was sentenced to two years in a social reform facility—a treatment reserved for elderly offenders like then-75-year-old Bashir—after being convicted of corruption. He is also facing an ongoing trial related to a 1989 coup that brought him to power—which he has publicly taken responsibility for—for which he could, if found guilty, receive the death sentence.

South Africa – Jacob Zuma
Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president from 2009 to 2018, has faced numerous allegations of corruption, including bribes in a $5 billion arms deal. In 2021, Zuma was sentenced to 15 months for contempt of court after refusing to testify in a corruption inquiry.
Zuma faced other charges of corruption and fraud. He was jailed in his late 70s over crimes that took place while he served as president from 2009 to 2018.
Jacob Zuma served as South Africa’s third deputy president from 1999 to 2005. He was removed from his post by President Thabo Mbeki in 2005 following corruption charges.

Zuma was accused of accepting bribes from a French arms dealer during a 1999 South African arms deal estimated to have cost $5 billion. That same year, Zuma was charged with raping the daughter of a family friend. In 2006 he was acquitted of rape, and in 2009 the corruption charges against him were dropped due to political interference.
Zuma returned to power, largely on the strength of his popularity among poor South Africans, and managed to avoid prosecution during his presidency from 2009 to 2018.
In 2021, Zuma was arrested and sentenced to 15 months in prison for refusing to participate in a corruption inquiry during his presidency. He was briefly released on medical parole, but a judge ordered him to return to prison in December 2021.
Mauritania – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was Mauritania’s president from 2009 to 2019. Aziz spent most of his life as a soldier, quickly climbing military ranks and eventually heading the Presidential Security Battalion—a position with power and proximity to political leadership that ultimately facilitated his foray into politics.

When Aziz was fired from this role in 2008 by then-President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, he led a coup—the second of his military career—which successfully deposed Abdallahi. Aziz took control of Mauritania’s interim government and remained in power until an official election in 2009 legitimized him as president.
In 2021, after a yearlong parliamentary investigation into Aziz’s time in office, he and many of his associates were charged with corruption, including money laundering and illicit enrichment, and jailed.