France’s ex-president: Sarkozy sentenced to one year of house arrest

France’s ex-president Sarkozy has been sentenced to one year in prison without parole. The court in Paris found it proven that the costs were billed illegally in the 2012 election campaign.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to one year in prison on charges of illegal campaign funding. The Paris court ruled that the sentence would take the form of electronically monitored house arrest.

Almost double the amount allowed was spent

Sarkozy is accused of having spent almost double the maximum amount allowed on his ultimately unsuccessful 2012 presidential election campaign. The court found that Sarkozy knew the legal limit was getting closer and failed to control the additional spending.

In France, spending on an election campaign is capped in order to create more equality of opportunity between candidates. In 2012, the permitted upper limit was 22.5 million euros. In fact, Sarkozy’s team is said to have spent at least 42.8 million.

In order to cover up the overspending, expenses are said to have been camouflaged by a system of fictitious invoices from his party UMP – which has since been renamed Republicans. Sarkozy is said not to have invented the system, but he ignored important information from accountants.

Sarkozy denies any “fraudulent intent”

The ex-president, who was absent from the Paris court today, denied the allegation at the trial. During the trial, the ex-president testified that the additional money was not used for his election campaign. He denied any “fraudulent intent” and stated that he did not take care of the day-to-day organization. This was done by a team, so he could not be held responsible for the amount of the expenses.

Sarkozy wants to appeal his conviction. This was announced by his lawyer Thierry Herzog in Paris.

In addition to Sarkozy, 13 other people were charged, including forgery, breach of trust, fraud and complicity in illegal campaign financing. Some of the defendants have admitted guilt. The court found them all guilty and imposed several years’ imprisonment, some of which were suspended and the remainder to be held under house arrest.

Punishment is higher than required

The prison sentence is higher than the public prosecutor’s office asked for. This had demanded a six-month prison sentence as well as a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of 3750 euros.

It is not the first conviction for Sarkozy: In March he was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, in another affair for bribery and illicit influence. Sarkozy appealed the verdict and was released. No president of the Fifth Republic of France, founded in 1958, has been punished so severely. The French judiciary is also investigating him for alleged payments by Libya in the 2007 election campaign. Sarkozy was French President from 2007 to 2012.