Bygmalion case: the defense of hazardous Thierry Herzog, Sarkozy’s lawyer – The World

Nicolas Sarkozy might be considered, with thirteen other people, before a criminal court for alleged illegal financing of his presidential campaign in 2012. C ‘at least the recommendation of the Paris prosecutor in his indictment signed on August 30 and that Le Monde aware

Read. campaign accounts: why prosecutors seeking transfer of Sarkozy in court

the lawyer for the former president, Thierry Herzog, denounced a “contempt of the criminal procedure code” and “hard” against his client

Read also:. Indicted, the candidate Sarkozy is little risk of ruled until 2017

What was said M ^th Herzog

“In defiance all the rules of law, the Paris prosecutor requires the return of President Nicolas Sarkozy for the offenses for which he has not been indicted. “

Why this is false

M ^th Thierry Herzog (and Laurent Wauquiez, chairman of the Republicans, in a statement) maintains the confusion among the public between the pattern of the indictment and the facts on which this ground is invoked. Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted in February for “illegal financing of election campaign” (Article L113-1 of the Electoral Code) and five facts were against him:

1. Having “raised funds to finance his election campaign in violation [electoral code] ”

2. Having “accepted funds in violation [electoral code] ” ;

3. Having “exceeded the maximum election expenses”

4. Having ” failed to meet the formalities of establishing campaign account “

5. Having “mentioned in the campaign account or its annexes, accounting elements knowingly minus”.

the closing of the Paris prosecutor, formulated on 30 August, seeking transfer Corrections for the same qualification “illegal financing of election campaign” He has, however, retained three facts.

1. Having ” exceeded the maximum election expenses “

2. Have “failed to meet the formalities of establishing campaign account”

3. Having “reported in the campaign accounts or its annexes, accounting elements knowingly minus “.

the prosecution has therefore not taken for lack of evidence sufficient, the facts have himself “collected” and “accepted” funds for his campaign, in violation of the electoral code. But the qualification remains the same and there is not, as stated Thierry Herzog, “contempt for all the rules of law” in having withdrawn two facts.

a fragmented memory of a press release

What he said:

Thierry Herzog recalled that “this indictment resulted in a release of parquet February 16, 2016 in which the Paris prosecutor recalled that President Nicolas Sarkozy had been indicted as above the maximum head account campaign. “

This is false

Strange argument. We found that press release parquet, dated February 16 … and which explicitly mentions the “illegal financing of election campaign” as the qualification of the indictment.

Just one fact was actually mentioned in this release, but the order well included the five facts that we mentioned above.

facts already sanctioned by the constitutional Council

What he said

the facts “already been sanctioned by the constitutional Council” , assured M ^th Herzog .

Why this is false

the lawyer for the former head of state made reference to the rejection in July 2013 of campaign accounts by the constitutional Council. The institution considered that apart spending accounts by the applicant fell within the team of the campaign (Toulon meeting before he officially declared his candidacy, meeting Villepinte and realization of the website initially shared costs with UMP, etc)

But this argument fails for two reasons:

• An overflow.. 466 118 euros had been found by the constitutional Council when the investigation concerns Bygmalion exceeded the ceiling by more than 23 million.

Decryption: The case Bygmalion 5 questions