They are accused of embezzlement and we favor by hand-picking 300 surveys between 2007 and 2012 for the Presidency of the Republic
Five former collaborators of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared yesterday before a court in Paris to be tried in the so-called “case of the Elysee polls.” They must answer to the judge for having allegedly given out contracts to carry out opinion polls or have benefited from it. Sarkozy, who was president of France between 2007 and 2012, will not sit on the dock this time, since, as head of state at the time, he enjoys presidential immunity in this case. But his name will hang throughout the entire trial, which is expected to last a month.
On the dock of the accused sit, among others, Claude Guéant, former secretary general of the Elysee Palace; Emmanuelle Mignon, former chief of staff; and Patrick Buisson, a former adviser in the shadow of Sarkozy. The case began after the anti-corruption association Anticor filed a first complaint in 2010 for favoritism and misuse of public funds.
The affair dates back to the years when Sarkozy was president of France. The president is obsessed with polls. Between 2007 and 2012, the Elysee Palace commissioned some 300 opinion polls.
Some of these surveys, worth 7.5 million euros, were allegedly awarded without making the necessary public tender required by law and were paid for with public money. Other polls commissioned by Elíseo were of doubtful utility, since, for example, the French were asked about the possible wedding between Sarkozy and the singer and model Carla Bruni or about the pregnancy of Rachida Dati, then Minister of Justice. Other polls were on partisan issues, such as Sarkozy’s potential rivals in the upcoming presidential elections.
Some of these polls were conducted by the companies of two Sarkozy directors: Patrick Buisson from Publifact and Publi Opinion, and Pierre Giacometti from No Com.
In the eye of the hurricane
Sarkozy, 66, has made headlines in court reports this year. For the first time in the history of the French Fifth Republic, a former president has twice been sentenced to prison terms.
In March, he was sentenced to three years in prison, one in prison and two exempt from compliance, for corruption and influence peddling in the wiretapping case or the Bismuth case. And in September, he was found guilty of illegally funding his 2012 presidential campaign and sentenced to a year in prison by a Paris court.
Sarkozy, who remains a benchmark for the French and European right despite his problems with justice, has appealed the two sentences. There is still no date for the new trials.
The conservative politician is also charged in another case for the alleged Libyan financing of his electoral campaign with which he won the 2007 presidential elections. In this case, he has not yet been tried.
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