The Paris Court of Cassation will hand down a decisive ruling on Wednesday on the alleged illegal financing of the former president’s 2012 campaign. Nicolas Sarkozyin his last chance to avoid a second final sentence. The decision will determine whether the lower court acted correctly in finding him guilty of exceeding legal spending limits in his failed re-election bid.
The court examines whether it is appropriate to confirm the sentence for illegal campaign financing, which would imply for Sarkozy a sentence of six monthspotentially low an electronic bracelet. The 70-year-old former president, who presided over France between 2007 and 2012, stated that he had “no criminal liability” in the case and called the accusations “lies”.
This Wednesday’s hearing represents his last opportunity to avoid adding another conviction to his judicial record. Last month he was imprisoned for a different cause, linked to his 2007 presidential campaign. In that process, judges found him guilty of allowing his assistants to try to obtain financing from the then Libyan dictator. Muammar Gaddafi. He served 20 days in prison, making him the first post-war French head of state to serve a prison sentence, before being released on November 10 under judicial supervision while the appeal in that file progresses.
Sarkozy’s judicial situation accumulates several chapters. In December of last year he exhausted his last appeal in a third case, in which he was convicted of trying to obtain favors from a judge. He served that sentence with an electronic device on his ankle that, as indicated in the file, was removed in May after several months.
The case being reviewed this Wednesday focuses on accusations that the former president’s right-wing party had worked with the public relations company Bygmalion to hide the real cost of the 2012 campaign. According to the prosecution, the total expenditure amounted to almost 43 million euroscompared to the limit of 22.5 million permitted by law. The investigators pointed out that their collaborators applied a double billing system that allowed part of the expense to be hidden.
Although the former president was not directly involved in this invoice system, the judges considered him responsible as a candidate beneficiary of illegal financing. The appeal court upheld the conviction in February last year, but the Court of Cassation could overturn that decision and order a new trial if it determines that the appeal presents valid grounds.
Despite his judicial difficulties, Sarkozy remains an influential figure within the French right. He was received by the president Emmanuel Macron before entering prison, a gesture that generated political repercussions. Later, the Minister of Justice, Gerald Darmaninconsidered a former protégé of the former president, also visited him in La Santé prison, which caused public criticism. A court later banned Sarkozy from contact with Darmanin and other officials as part of the conditions imposed upon his release.
Fifteen days after leaving prison, the former president announced that he will publish a book next month in which he will recount his experience during the three weeks of detention. The launch will occur while it continues to depend on the decisions of the highest French courts to define its judicial situation.
(With information from AFP)
