The former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced on Thursday June 17, 2021, to one year in prison, including six months closed as part of the Bygmalion trial by the prosecution before the Paris Criminal Court, for illegal financing of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Prosecutors, who delivered an indictment lasting more than five hours, also demanded a 3,750 euros fine against Nicolas Sarkozy, stressing his “total carelessness” in the management of the finances of a campaign “in solid gold”, Western media report.

According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the party for which he was a candidate, the UMP, is accused of having spent 42.8 million euros, almost twice the legal spending limit (22.5 million), for its unsuccessful campaign in 2012, through false invoices from the Bygmalion company.

Nicolas Sarkozy was absent during the indictment.

The Paris Criminal Court requested an eighteen month to four year suspended prison sentence against the 13 co-convicts.

Prosecutors asked for a three-year suspended prison sentence and a € 50,000 fine for the former deputy campaign director, Jérôme Lavrilleux, the only one to have recognized the fraud. Against the three ex-executives of Bygmalion who admitted to having accepted the establishment of the system of false invoices, eighteen months of suspended prison were required.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse