Nicolás Sarkozy sentenced to one year in prison for illegal campaign financing | You could serve your sentence at home

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year in prison for illegal campaign financing. The justice of this country verified that it had exceeded the limit of the authorized expenses during the presidential elections of 2012 and imposed a sanction which, however, could meet at home with an electronic bracelet. Your defense will appeal.

Sarkozy was not present when reading the judgment in which it has been shown that in his candidacy for re-election he continued to spend money despite being warned “in writing of the risk of exceeding” the legal expenditure limit authorized by the French system.

“I continued with the organization of rallies” being that “it was not his first campaign. He already had experience as a candidate,” he said. the president of the tribunal, Caroline Viguier, which handed him a year in prison, although he allows him to accomplish it at home with a digital exit control system.

Thierry Herzog, lawyer for the former head of state between 2007 and 2012, he said on leaving court that your client has asked you by phone to appeal the decision. “Something I will do immediately,” he added of the appeal that will try to cripple the sentence.

This is the second penalty against Sarkozy

The 66-year-old former Conservative president has become the first former president of the Fifth Republic (regime started in 1958) to be sentenced to prison for corruption and influence peddling, otherwise. His defense also appealed.

Despite his legal fronts, Sarkozy remains a reference for the French right, as evidenced by the messages of support received, especially from those who choose to represent The Republicans during the next presidential election in April. The husband of singer, model and actress Carla Bruni also has a cordial relationship with the current French president, Emmanuel Macron, which has even sparked speculation about possible support for the liberals in the next presidential election.

The new conviction against him took place in the so-called “Bygmalion case”, who investigated irregularities in the accounts of the 2012 presidential campaign, in which the then president lost to socialist Francois Hollande.

The court imposed the maximum penalty and double what the prosecution claimed at the end of the mid-year trial for an “American spectacles” campaign, in which he let the expenses go without caring.

Depending on the cause, during this campaign 42.8 million euros were spent (about $ 49.6 million at current exchange rate), almost double the limit legal.

According to accountants, the excess spending would then have been hidden in a financial package between the then ruling Unión por un Movimiento Popular (UMP) and the Bygmalion company, which organized the events. To evade controls, Bygmalion organized a system of false invoices, charged expenses to Sarkozy’s party conventions that were not carried out and underestimated others.

No more pending cases

“It’s a story,” Sarkozy said during the trial which the ex-president attended only once, although it lasted more than a month. “I would like you to explain to me why I campaigned more in 2012 than in 2007. This is wrong!” He added. His defense had asked for an acquittal, since “he had not signed any invoice”. Sarkozy ignored the accusations. “I am known to delegate a lot,” he said. “I can’t take care of everything,” he added.

The ex-president has other open processes. Justice accuses him of passive corruption and criminal association, among other crimes, for the alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign which led him to the Elysee Palace.

The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) is also investigating him for influence peddling and money laundering of a felony or an offense, in connection with your consultancy activities in Russia.