| Eric Cesari (g) and Pierre Chassat, two former executives of the UMP questioned, photographed October 15, 2012 in Paris (Photo Miguel Medina / afp.com) |
Saturday, October 4, 2014, 3:33 p.m.
Three former executives of the UMP, including one close to Nicolas Sarkozy, Eric Cesari, were indicted Saturday in Bygmalion investigation into the financing of the 2012 presidential campaign of the former head of the State.
M. I Cesar, nicknamed “Sarko’s eye” to the UMP, the former financial director Fabienne Liadze and his former communications director Peter Chassat party were taken into custody Thursday morning.
They were indicted Saturday for “forgery and use of forgeries” and “breach of trust” by the judges Serge Tournaire, Roger Le Loire and Renaud van Ruymbeke who had indicted three former executives Wednesday Bygmalion, the main provider company meetings of the campaign Mr. Sarkozy.
In this case, which could hamper the return to the political scene of the former president, magistrates investigating a possible system of false invoices whose goal was to portray the account of the last campaign of the former head of state.
They are trying to determine how this massive fraud was put in place and who gave the order.
Wednesday, facing the judges, a co-founder of Bygmalion Guy Alves, confirmed his participation in “a device (…) under which the UMP took charge of improperly campaign expenses of Nicolas Sarkozy, “his lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve
-. Judicial review –
This maneuver would allow the campaign budget to not explode the ceiling that the law fixed so that candidates are on an equal footing, or € 22.5 million for those entering the second round.
For this purpose, Event and Co., a subsidiary of Bygmalion event, was charged many expenses to the UMP and not the Sarkozy campaign via fictitious conventions of the party. An evaluation on file, no less than 18.5 million euros have been evaded campaign account, said a source familiar with the matter.
In the end, the Constitutional Council had still estimated that the ceiling was exceeded, some 23 million, leaving Nicolas Sarkozy public reimbursement.
| Solange Doumic the lawyer Fabienne Liadze surrounded by reporters Oct. 4, 2014 before the financial hub of Paris (Photo Matt Alexandre / afp.com) |
Saturday afternoon Me Solange Doumic council Fabienne Liadze, assured the press that his client had “committed no offense.” Counsel for Mr. Chassat, Benoît Goulesque-Monaux, left the financial hub of the High Court of Paris without comment.
After the first six indictments handed down this week, it will be for investigators to understand that within the UMP and the campaign team were aware of such fraud and if the leading roles, such as Jean-Francois Cope and Nicolas Sarkozy, could ignore .
“I learned the name of Bygmalion long after the presidential campaign,” assured the former head of state during his political comeback, September 21. Wednesday night, his rival François Fillon clearly stood out in this regard, ensuring had “often heard of Bygmalion” during the campaign and “often seen” that the company was working with the UMP.
The indicted were imposed judicial review forbidding them to communicate, but also to meet with several other protagonists of this explosive issue: MM. Sarkozy and Cope, the campaign manager William Lambert and his former deputy Jerome Lavrilleux.
This is particularly the revelations of the latter, former right hand of Mr. Cope now MEP, the scandal exploded.
| Judge Roger Le Loire 4 October 2014 at the end of the financial hub of Paris (Photo Matt Alexandre / afp.com ) |
On the eve of his custody in mid-June, he had set Lavrilleux Because Mr. and Mrs. Cesari Liadze during an interview with AFP. According to him, once the presidential lost, we had to find a solution “in an absolute emergency.” According to his version, the decision to charge expenses to the UMP and not in the country had been taken at the party headquarters during a meeting between Mr. Cesari, Ms. Liadze, Mr. Lambert and Franck Attal, officer of Event and Co.
According to sources familiar with the matter, MM. Alves and Attal before the investigators have located the first discussions between the UMP and Bygmalion earlier, in early April, before the first round of the election.
No comments:
Post a Comment