All Sarkozy’s legal woes
The former president of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced to three years, in first instance court, for corruption and influence trafficking, with a suspended sentence of two years. But there is also another procedure. Enrico Martial's point
The former president of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced to three years, in first instance court, for corruption and influence trafficking, with a suspended sentence of two years. The appeal can be presented within the next ten days.
The facts date back to 2014, when Sarkozy allegedly tried to recover his agendas – then seized as part of the investigation into the Bettencourt case, which had produced a non-place to proceed – with the help of a magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, to whom he allegedly also asked for confidential information. In return, the magistrate would be promised a prestigious post in the Principality of Monaco. Thierry Herzog, a lawyer and close friend, would have contributed in several steps. Azibert and Herzog were sentenced to three years, two of which with suspended sentences; for Herzog there is also a ban on practicing the profession of lawyer for five years.
The three-week trial, based largely on wiretapping, brought back the picture of the existing relationships at different levels, which had already emerged from the media's previews in 2014. Sarkozy himself, fearing being the subject of wiretapping, equipped himself with a second phone under a false name (Paul Bismouth). The language of the conversations recorded and made known is rich in familiarity between friends who, however, have the flavor of trafficking, which, as such, have been perceived by observers and public opinion.
The attempt to recover the agendas underlines their interest, as they are potentially capable of contributing to other proceedings in which Sarkozy has been the subject of investigation, and for some time: the Affaire Crédit Lyonnais, in which Sarkozy is suspected of intervening in Bernard's favor. Tapie, businessman and ex-president of the Marseille football team, as well as the case of the possible financing of the 2007 campaign by Gaddafi's Libya.
Sarkozy is also the subject of another proceeding, which concerns the accounts of the 2012 election campaign – which would have exceeded the threshold of 20 million euros – and in which the Bygmalion company is involved: the trial should open on 17 March next. Finally, on January 15, the Mediapart website reported another, more recent case involving a Russian insurance company, Reso-Garantia, due to a suspicious transaction report that emerged with the Tracfin system, similar to ours. Financial Information Office for Italy (UIF) in the Bank of Italy. If desired, we can then cite the investigation into the Karachi case, a recently reopened 1995 affair, which involved Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, of which Sarkozy was finance minister, for arms sales to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, with possible "Retro-commissions", and on the case of helicopters in Kazakhstan, also in this case for retro-commissions on a 2 billion euro sale, on which the investigation has been open since 2012.
Sarkozy, with his lawyers, held a position of clear refusal of any accusation, complaining of the "political persecution", the irrelevance of the facts, the "trial of intentions", given that the agendas remained confiscated and that Azibert did not obtained the prestigious position in Monaco.
The nuances in the French media also indicate divisions that the observers cross: the same Parquet National Financier that conducted the investigation is the subject of attacks but also of reflections and reform proposals, the means used in the procedure were very high compared to the topic , with continuous appeals from the defense and an investigation that lasted six years.
It is a topic that has deeply involved the Parisian judicial environment, with lawyers who regularly sat in the audience to listen to the fate of their colleague Herzog. On December 3, then numerous appeared, and on December 8, almost in response, the indictment was opened by the chief prosecutor, Jean-François Bohnert, who had stated that the trial was not "an institutional revenge, that of the judiciary or of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office with a former President of the Republic ”and that a“ former Head of State has rights, which must be respected, but he too has the supreme duty to respect the rule of law ”.
The tension that has been registered in the judiciary, and in the world of lawyers, also has a side on the political level. Sarkozy enjoys good support – sometimes explicit – on the right of the political spectrum, with “Les Republicains” struggling to find a candidate and a leader, for example undecided whether to focus on Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France Region.
The Minister of the Interior of the government of Jean Castex , Gérald Darmanin, a pupil of Sarkozy, still openly supported him on 10 December, and Le Monde , on 19 February, described the former president of the Republic as a refuge value and possible candidate for presidential elections of 2022. A man of providence, also to break the Macron-Le Pen duopoly that is foreshadowing.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/tutti-i-guai-giudiziari-di-sarkozy/ on Mon, 01 Mar 2021 17:50:04 +0000.