Jean-François Copé, Jérôme Lavrilleux and Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on July 8, 2013. – Jacques Brinon / AP / SIPA
- Postponed due to the coronavirus in March, the trial of the so-called “Bygmalion” case resumed on May 20 before the 11th chamber of the Paris judicial tribunal.
- Former executives of the UMP, responsible for the 2012 campaign and leaders of the Bygmalion company: in total, fourteen people are on trial for this case of false invoices, including the former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy, who faces a penalty one year in prison.
- During the first days of hearings, the court became certain that a system of false invoices had indeed been put in place. It remains to be seen who had the idea and who was informed …
At the Paris judicial court,
The article of M, the magazine of the World dated
of December 7, 2012. It is a portrait with the lapidary title: “Eric Césari, the eye of Moscow at the UMP”. Sarkozy’s eye, to be precise… Legend has it that when he was general manager of the UMP, he was summoned to the Elysee every two days to report on the life of the party. A report on Jean-François Copé, to be precise, there too …
When, this Wednesday afternoon, the Paris judicial court reminds him of the anecdote, Eric Césari raises his arms to heaven. “But it’s a fantasy! I am Corsican, I worked at the Ministry of the Interior, with [Charles] Pasqua, with [Nicolas] Sarkozy, in Hauts-de-Seine… Okay, that’s a lot… But with the press, we are in the spectacle! “
“I went to this meeting by chance”
It is impossible to know if Caroline Viguier, the president of the 11th chamber of the court, likes shows. But one thing is certain, she does not base her work on the press alone. Rather on the thick file of the Bygmalion affair, which she knows by heart. And which serves as a cartridge belt when it comes to questioning the defendants, since the start of the trial… So here she is who comes out with a first bullet. “Explosive” type. This is the statement of an employee of the UMP. “Eric Césari was aware of the slightest deeds and gestures within the UMP”, indicates it.
At the bar, the 61-year-old defendant immediately stirred in his charcoal gray suit. ” But of course not ! I would have had to be in the middle of everything! “It is even precisely the opposite that he has always defended:” Sarkozy’s eye “claims to have seen nothing. Nothing seen of the system of false invoices set up to conceal the explosion of the campaign accounts of the “candidate president” in the presidential election of 2012. And thus allow him to remain in the nails fixed by the law.
Nothing heard either. Not even on March 13, 2012, when the subject was brought up at a meeting within the party. “That day, I happened to drop by this meeting but didn’t know anything about it. »Implacable, the president then orders him to move off the bar. And she invites Guillaume Lambert, director of the presidential campaign in 2012. Alas, he comes forward and is satisfied with one sentence: “No, he was not there by chance …”
A stock of initials to sign …
New ball. Caroline Viguier releases a new statement. This comes from an accountant. “Everything went through him,” he said, speaking of Eric Césari. Who, at this evocation, gets agitated again. “But no… This one, his memory is failing!” », He answers… The problem is that if the words fly away and that “memory falters”, the writings remain. And they are numerous to populate this judicial file. And above all, many of them bear the mark of the accused… For Caroline Viguier, it is heavy artillery.
Because, in his capacity as managing director, signing at the time to 12,575 euros, Eric Césari signed and initialed almost all the false invoices which were used to set up the financial device. “Good for agreement”, he even indicates on certain “expenditure commitments”. Here, a note at 1,198,553.46 euros. There, an invoice for 2,181,519.98 euros. We now know: the maneuver was aimed at camouflaging more than 20 million euros in spending … But again, “Sarkozy’s eye” claims to have seen nothing. “I had a stock of initials on my desk (…) I don’t really have the feeling that I gave a voucher for agreement, by the way…”
“Employees who are there to obey”
Ten years after the facts, and while he obtained 159,000 euros in the industrial tribunal after his dismissal by the UMP, the prosecution wonders why Eric Césari does not say more. And continue to defend the indefensible. Deputy prosecutor Vanessa Pérrée asks the question. “I’m only trying to explain to the court what a party with fully exercised political power and employees who are there to obey …” he replies. And besides, he is only there to “defend the truth.” Not to “pass judgment” on anyone.
#Bygmalion : After all that…
“There is the beginning of a fight between copéistes, not copéistes, filonnistes. We went from love to hate. We are on the prospect of finding the one who will replace the candidate. Me, I stay and I lock myself in my office. “– Vincent Vantighem (@vvantighem) June 2, 2021
Because, in spite of all this affair, Eric Césari retained his card in this party which is called today The Republicans. But he knew the RPR and the UMP. He’s had it since he was 19, this card. Moreover today, he is still the 14th deputy mayor of Courbevoie, and even deputy departmental secretary of the Hauts-de-Seine federation.
The court isn’t really listening anymore. He knows that it is necessary to concentrate on the only valid question: who, at the time of the facts, thus exercised this famous “political power” of which he speaks. Is it Nicolas Sarkozy, who wanted to extend a lease at the Elysee? Or Jean-François Cope, who led the party while waiting for his turn? Thursday, it is precisely his then lieutenant, Jérôme Lavrilleux, who must appear at the bar. There is no doubt that President Viguier will have stocked up on ammunition.
Follow this trial live on our journalist’s Twitter account: @vvantighem