PARIS — Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was ordered Tuesday to stand trial in an inquiry into alleged campaign finance fraud during his failed 2012 re-election bid, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Sarkozy and 13 other “protagonists” will go to court on the order of a magistrate to answer allegations that his presidential campaign spent well above the legal ceiling of 22.5 million euros ($24 million) and tried to cover it up fraudulently, the office said.

The claims center on whether the 61-year-old politician was aware of alleged false billing and fraud linked to PR company Bygmalion, where some executives have acknowledged false accounting.

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