Sarkozy touched by allegations that his ex-wife received a bogus job of € 3,000 per month | Nicolas sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy has been struck by claims that his ex-wife got a well-paying fictitious job as a part-time parliamentary assistant while in government.

Cécilia Attias, the second wife of the former French president, was reportedly employed as an assistant to the woman who represented Sarkozy as a center-right deputy in the National Assembly when he was promoted Minister of the Interior under the president Jacques Chirac in 2002.

The allegation echoes accusations against Francois Fillon, who was prime minister under Sarkozy, and his Welsh wife, Penelope, which led to them being convicted of embezzlement of public funds in June last year.

According to the satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchainé, Cécilia Sarkozy, as she was then, was paid nearly € 3,100 per month for just under 76 hours of work. The Duck said he couldn’t find any evidence that she did any work.

“Not an article, not the slightest report, not a single one of the many books on the former first lady mentions her work as parliamentary assistant to the deputy for Puteaux,” writes the newspaper.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s entourage does not deny that Cécilia Sarkozy was employed as a parliamentary assistant, but vehemently denied accusations that the post was “fictitious”.

“Cécilia Sarkozy’s professional contribution throughout Nicolas Sarkozy’s political life from 1988 to 2007 is well known to the public, as the numerous press articles published on the subject prove. She was particularly involved in Neuilly-sur-Seine [where Sarkozy was mayor] and more widely in the Hauts-de-Seine constituency where her husband was a deputy, ”a member of Sarkozy’s team told French media.

“When he [Sarkozy] becoming Minister of the Interior in July 2002, she continued to provide assistance under a part-time parliamentary assistant contract… a position she held for nine months until March 2003 ”, added the source. “Her work at the grassroots level was so established that she even considered running for the elections.

Rémi-Pierre Drai, lawyer for Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, MP Cécilia Sarkozy was paid to attend parliament, said there was no evidence of wrongdoing. “It has not been shown that there was an absence of actual work being performed,” Drai said, adding that in any case the charges went well beyond the six-year limit for prosecution.

On Sud Radio, Guillaume Peltier, No. 2 of the right-wing opposition party Les Républicains – of which Sarkozy is a member – rejected what he called the “tyranny of rumor”.

“For me, Nicolas Sarkozy is a politician, a statesman, who has reformed, defended and protected our country and our people in difficult times and in a remarkable way. I am absolutely not interested in anything else. It’s up to the courts to decide, ”said Peltier.

Le Canard stated that it had examined numerous press articles written on Cécilia Sarkozy and her husband during the period in which she was employed, as well as the autobiography of the former first lady published in 2013, and found no mention of her. parliamentary work. However, they mentioned her work alongside her husband at the Home Office, which she allegedly described as “voluntary”.

Last June, a French court found the Fillon guilty of fraud after hearing that the former prime minister had paid his wife and two of their children up to € 1m for non-existent parliamentary assistant jobs.

François Fillon was sentenced to five years in prison, three of which were suspended, and his wife was sentenced to three years suspended. A third accused, Marc Joulaud, who took over the constituency of Fillon as a deputy in the National Assembly when he was Prime Minister and also “employed” Penelope Fillon, was sentenced to three years suspended and fined of € 20,000. All three have appealed against the convictions.

The “Penelopegate” scandal was also revealed by Le Canard Enchainé and cost Fillon the 2017 presidential election, paving the way for Emmanuel Macron.

In December, French prosecutors demanded that Nicolas Sarkozy be convicted of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced to four years in prison. This is one of many lawsuits against Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012.

Since leaving office, he has been involved in separate investigations into allegations of illegal campaign financing and allegations that he took money from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy denies all the allegations.

Attias, a former model, divorced Sarkozy in October 2007 shortly after he assumed the presidency. He married the model-turned-singer Carla Bruni the following year.