The shadow of Nicolas Sarkozy will hover once again in the courtroom. But the former President of the Republic will, this time, be absent from this judicial meeting to which five of his former advisers or collaborators are invited. Twelve years after the revelation of the facts, Claude Guéant, at the time secretary general of the Elysee Palace, Patrick Buisson, ex-presidential adviser of the far right, and three other people are judged from this Monday before the criminal court in the so-called “Elysee polls” affair. Sentenced to prison in the so-called “tapping” case – a decision he appealed – Nicolas Sarkozy is, in this case, covered by his presidential immunity.
During its five-year term, the Elysée spent several million euros of public money to commission opinion studies from various polling institutes. There were more than 300, intended to find out what the French thought of the pregnancy of Rachida Dati, of a possible marriage of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni, or of a possible candidacy of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2012 As early as 2009, the Court of Auditors took an interest, in a report by ”
control of accounts and management of Elysée departments », To this sounding madness.
Questions on “the usefulness of these expenses”
The Sages of rue Cambon are particularly intrigued by an agreement concluded in June 2007 between the Elysée and Publifact, the company of Patrick Buisson, then adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy. In total, nearly 130 invoices were settled for an amount of around 1.5 million euros. The magistrates are astonished by “the not only very succinct character of the convention (only one page), but also exorbitant with regard to the rules of the execution of the public expenditure”.
In addition, “the rules of competition” were not respected since the agreement signed by the chief of staff of Nicolas Sarkozy, Emmanuelle Mignon, was concluded without any call for tenders. Finally, the Court of Auditors notes that “out of the 35 various studies invoiced in 2018, at least 15 of them had also been the subject of publications in the press”. “We could therefore wonder about the usefulness of these expenses. “
After having read this report, the anti-corruption association Anticor filed a complaint against X in 2010 for favoritism. It is closed without follow-up by the prosecution which considers that Nicolas Sarkozy is protected by his presidential immunity, just like his collaborators. A second complaint with the constitution of civil party is filed in November by the association for the same reason so that an examining magistrate is seized.
“Claude Guéant only carried out the directives of the president”
Initially, the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal is opposed to it. But the Court of Cassation invalidated this decision in December 2012, thus allowing the examining magistrate Serge Tournaire to investigate this complaint for favoritism. In the meantime, Anticor filed a third complaint against X, in October 2012, but for embezzlement of public funds, after Raymond Avrillier, an elected environmentalist from Grenoble, obtained after a long legal battle, part of the polls ordered . This time, the prosecution opens a preliminary investigation which is joined to the instruction of Judge Tournaire.
For five years, the magistrate was interested in contracts concluded without calls for tenders between the Elysée and several polling institutes, including the companies of two advisers to the president, Patrick Buisson and Pierre Giacometti. In 2018, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office requires the correctional referral of the close collaborators of Nicolas Sarkozy, who were indicted in this case. Among them, Emmanuelle Mignon and Claude Guéant are dismissed for favoritism and embezzlement of public funds through negligence. They both face a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.
“Claude Guéant only carried out the directives of the president who had expressed the wish that Patrick Buisson and Pierre Giacometti be recruited and that we call on the polling institutes which had been chosen”, explains to 20 minutes his lawyer, Me Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi. The trial which opens, he continues, raises “two big questions”. “First, can we judge Claude Guéant for simply having carried out the president’s orders when the latter benefits from criminal irresponsibility in his actions? On the other hand, can there be an offense when public procurement law has never been applied to the presidency until then? It is the top of the state and it was considered that the president could freely choose his service providers and the contracts concluded with them. “
Margins of 65% to 70%
Patrick Buisson, for his part, is dismissed for concealment, embezzlement of public funds and abuse of corporate assets. The survey identified 235 polls bought by his cabinet and sold to the President of the Republic between 2007 and 2009 with margins of 65% to 70%, for a profit of some 1.4 million euros. He faces the maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment and a fine of 375,000 euros. As for Publifact and Publi-Opinion, the companies of Patrick Buisson, they will be judged for embezzlement of public funds and concealment of favoritism.
Also on the bench, political scientist Pierre Giacometti and his company Giacometti Peron, now No Com, were dismissed for concealment, as was the Ipsos polling institute. Finally, the former adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean Michel Goudard, who was dismissed for favoritism, died on November 3, 2020. The trial is scheduled to last until November 12, 2021.