<h1>Criminal conspiracy conviction results in imprisonment order for former head of state despite his declared appeal and contested evidence.</h1> A Paris criminal panel found the former president guilty of criminal conspiracy and criminal association for engaging in a scheme involving Libyan contacts to obtain financial support for his 2007 campaign; the court described the contacts as a corruption pact and held that a corrupt scheme may be punishable even if the actual payment of funds cannot be proven, while acquitting on several ancillary counts and identifying evidentiary issues including an allegedly forged document and retracted witness statements.