France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of illegal campaign financing by the Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday (14 February), and given a one-year prison sentence.
The Court of Appeals’ ruling confirmed that Sarkozy spent €43 million – almost double the €22.5 million ceiling French law lays out – on his 2012 campaign for a second presidency, which he lost to socialist contender François Hollande.
Sarkozy has been handed down a one-year prison sentence, including a six-month suspended sentence.
Sarkozy’s lawyers confirmed minutes after the ruling that they would take the case to the country’s Supreme Court, the Cour de Cassation, which means the sentence associated will be automatically suspended in full for the time being.
“He keeps on fighting,” the legal team told AFP on Wednesday.
Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012, has steadfastly denied any wrongdoings and insisted he had neither asked for, nor was aware, of any illicit financing system.
The ‘Bygmalion affair’, first revealed by the French daily newspaper Libération in 2014, involved accusations that Sarkozy’s then-UMP party (now Les Républicains) worked with public relations and campaign events firm Bygmalion to hide real campaign costs, through a double invoicing system, and the invoicing of events that never actually took place.
A lower court found Sarkozy guilty in September 2021, with a one-year effective prison sentence, which had been commuted to house surveillance and the wearing of an electronic tagging device. Sarkozy’s legal team had appealed the ruling.
The Court at the time said that the distribution of campaign events throughout April and May 2012 – one a day on average – should have been enough to raise questions, while the then-presidential incumbent had been warned of overspending in writing.
A number of the ex-president’s close campaign aides and key party members have also been found guilty of embezzling funds.
The fiasco has been seen by observers as one of France’s largest modern politico-financial scandals, which subsequently torpedoed the party’s cohesion and finances.
Sarkozy was also involved in a high-profile legal case of bribery and corruption. In May 2023, a Court of Appeals found him guilty of bribing a judge after leaving office, and of peddling influence in exchange for confidential information about an investigation into his 2007 campaign finances.
He was given a three-year prison sentence, with one year effective behind bars – the case has also been brought up to the Cour de Cassation. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Sarkozy is due to appear in front of courts in 2025 over alleged financing of his successful 2007 presidential bid by Libya under the Muammar Gaddafi regime.
Read more with Euractiv
Greek Orthodox Church asks for roll-call vote on same-sex marriage billThe Greek Orthodox Church asked lawmakers on Wednesday (14 February) to hold a roll-call vote on the same-sex marriage bill, a sensitive issue that has sparked an intense debate in the country and divided the ruling conservative New Democracy party.
Source: euractiv.com
