Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first former president of France to run a trial on charges of corruption and influence, as well as trying to bribe a judge for information.
The former leader was called by his full name Sri Sri Sarkozy de Nagy-Boxa. “Sarkozy was enough,” he replied. Recalling that his full name is sought in the legal record, he added: “I don’t need to use it for the moment.”
Sarkozy arrived at the court just after 2pm on Monday, picking up a slightly used entrance to avoid the camera outside. Police kept journalists at a distance inside the tribunal building. The case was adjourned for about an hour when he walked away.
His appearance in the dock was short-lived; One of his two co-defendants requested that the hearing be adjourned because the coronavirus made it dangerous for him to appear in court. The court agreed to adjourn the hearing until Thursday for a medical report.
Ahead of Monday’s hearing, 65-year-old Sarkozy, who has repeatedly denied the allegations, told French television he was ready for a courtroom fight.
“I am a fighter. I have no intention of blaming you for what I did not do. I am not corrupt and anything that has been imposed on me is a scam that will linger for years to come. The truth will come out, ”Sarkozy told BFMTV earlier this month.
Sarkozy’s political mentor, Jacques Chirac, faced trial only after another president resigned – but Chirac never appeared in court to plead guilty to a counter-employment scam due to ill health.
This is the first case in a series of investigations against a French-led writing politician between 2007 and 2012 that comes before judges after years of trying to convict or deny it.
In what has become known as the “Bugging Affair,” prosecutors tried to bribe Sarkozy and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, with Senior Magistrate Gilbert Ezibert. In return, Sarkozy is accused of offering Azibert to secure a skilled job at C ડીte d’Azur.
Sarkozy has been targeted in a legal probe – from allegations of illegal campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to allegations of receiving kickbacks from arms sales to Pakistan.
French detectives began monitoring Sarkozy’s communications in September 2013, as part of an investigation into allegations that he had received an unannounced and illicit દ 50 million donation from Gaddafi to fund his successful 2007 presidential campaign.
What they heard from the recorded conversation drew researchers in a new and unexpected direction. They revealed that the former president and Herzog were “secretly” communicating using mobile telephones registered under false names. One credit for Sarkozy’s phone went to Paul Bismuth.
Additional wirelaps on these phones started a conversation indicating that Sarkozy was in contact with Azibert, then a member of the court – the Supreme Court of France – through Herzog, to request for confidential information about his separate investigation into whether Sarkozy received a donation from the disease. ‘Oriel heir Lillian Batoncourt.
The Batoncourt case was eventually dropped, but an investigation into the corruption and influence peddling related to the Wirth Apps was opened.
Sarkozy has always denied any wrongdoing in his past and present investigations. He has previously claimed that Bismuth’s allegations are “an insult to my intellect.”
Herzog also argued that the bugging and recording of his phone violated client privacy rules, but his repeated attempts to throw evidence or dismiss the case failed.
If convicted, Sarkozy, Herzog and Ezibert face up to 10 years in prison and a hefty fine.
Sarkozy is expected to appear in court next year, in another case involving a “bygmillion affair” in which he is accused of overpoping a 2012 re-election bid. No date has been set for a court hearing in another investigation linked to Sarkozy.
