The French Supreme Court confirms a new sentence against Sarkozy for the irregular financing of his 2012 electoral campaign

This is the second final conviction against the tenant of the Elysée between 2007 and 2012, after the high court already sentenced him to five years in prison for illegally financing the campaign that took him to the Elysée in 2007 with money from the Libyan dictator. Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, 70, wore an electronic bracelet between February and May of this year due to the sentence that the Supreme Court ratified today to control his house arrest. In fact, he appeared with him before the court that tried him for the Libyan financing of his first presidential campaign.

Now, the judge must determine the way in which the former president must serve this new sentence: if he puts an electronic bracelet back on him or establishes other modalities.

In its ruling this Wednesday, the Supreme Court rejects the appeal filed by Sarkozy’s lawyers, who contested the composition of the Court of Appeal that convicted him on February 14, as well as other substantive arguments.

The judges consider it proven that there was irregular financing of the 2012 campaign, which ended with his defeat at the hands of Hollande, but in which 43 million euros were spent, almost double what is authorized by law.

Operation Bygmalion

To make it up, A network of companies and false invoices was created through the event organizing society Bygmalionwhich gives its name to the case, whose perpetrators were also convicted, as were the campaign director and other members of the party.

Eager to turn around the polls that showed him defeated by Hollande, Sarkozy demanded more and more actions, a campaign train that the judges estimated could not go unnoticed by the candidate, who was ultimately responsible for the campaign accounts.

In this way, they destroy Sarkozy’s insistence on his innocence and his argument that that network was created behind his back and for the personal enrichment of those responsible.

Appeal, despite everything, halved the sentence imposed in the first instance in November 2021 for this case and placed her in one year of prison, half of which was exempt from compliance, the same sentence that the Supreme Court now confirms and makes definitive.

Several convictions and open cases

A new blot on Sarkozy’s reputation, which has already been condemned on three different fronts, two of them already definitive, and It has other open causes.

Although all attention is now focused on the Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign, the one that led him to the Elysée, due to the political significance it has and the high sentence imposed in the first instance, five years.

The judges also ordered his immediate entry into prison, although the former president appealed the ruling, which took him to the Santé prison on October 21, before being released on November 10 due to his high age.

The appeal for that case will be judged next March.