The former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy denied that he had committed any criminal offense in his lawsuit for illegal financing of the failed 2012 election campaign, arguing that the costs were not his responsibility.
Sarkozy is on trial in the Paris misdemeanor court for the so-called Bygmalion case, which concerns the exceeding of his pre-election expenses. If convicted, he faces up to one year in prison and a fine of 3,750 euros.
Dressed in a black suit and wearing a black mask, the 66-year-old former president entered the courtroom and took his place next to his co-accused, after greeting, with a nod of the head, the two representatives of the prosecutor’s office. To date, he has not been present at the hearing, which began on May 20 and is represented by his longtime lawyer, Thierry Erzog.
The other 13 defendants, former executives of the public relations firm Bygmalion and the UMP party (now called the “Republicans”), are said to have been involved in issuing fake invoices in order to conceal their election expenses. Prosecutors say Sarkozy’s conservative party exceeded the election spending threshold of 18.5 million euros, which was set at 22.5 million, and then hired the “friendly” company Bygmalion to cover up the costs.
Addressing the judges, Sarkozy said he had never asked other presidential candidates to scrutinize the campaign accounts. “Can you imagine me going to a meeting to discuss the cost of flags?” I could not stand even two minutes. “I had a lot of things to do,” he said.
Mr Sarkozy told the court he did not know how the money was being spent and had no involvement in the logistical support of the 2012 campaign, when he was running for a second term in the French presidency. “Did I intend to commit fraud, an offense? Was I careless? Negligent; The answer is the most unequivocal no to all this. “Once they told me things were okay, I had no reason to reconsider.”
The former president insisted that he was responsible for the political direction of the campaign, but not for the organization of rallies, the production of material and the payment of bills.
Prosecutors, in their referral panel, admit that the investigation did not prove that Sarkozy organized or was involved in the illegal financing, but say that he ignored the warnings about the overspending, from which he benefited.
“My responsibilities were policy-making. “Apart from that, it is known that I entrust things to others.”
His testimony, however, contradicts the claims made in court by Jean-François Cope (then-secretary general of the UMP) and his then-chief of staff, Jerome Lavrigo. Both, without naming him, talked about a candidate who made decisions knowing the cost.
The trial is set to end on June 22.
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