“No matter what it cost, the important thing was to win,” said Jérôme Lavrilleux.

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Paris, May 20, 2021. Jérôme Lavrilleux and his lawyer, Christian Saint-Palais, arrive at the Paris court which is examining the Bygmalion case. – Bertrand GUAY / AFP

  • 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,

It is impossible to know if Caroline Viguier, the president of the 11th chamber of the Paris court, is the type to see the glass half full or rather half empty. It is therefore impossible to know what she exactly thought of the interrogation of Jérôme Lavrilleux. Two weeks after the start of the trial of the so-called “Bygmalion” affair, he was, on Thursday, the first UMP official to recognize, without squirming, the establishment of a system of false invoices during the campaign. Presidential election of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012. But he was much more confused when it was necessary to identify precisely the instigators of the fraudulent maneuver.

“I don’t want to shatter a fantasy, but it all happened on the fly. Empirically… ”he attacks when asked to come back to the scheme. Before stopping for a moment to better choose his words. And finally to let go: “Total inorganization …” Thus, to believe him, the establishment of the system of false invoices would not have been “planned” but would have been imposed as the expenditure exploded. campaign of President-candidate Sarkozy.

“Decisions are taken at the Élysée …”

Damned soul of the right, the 51-year-old Picard knows very well that he will forever be the one who confessed, in tears on the set of BFM TV, a “slip”. Not really controlled … A “slippage” of more than 20 million euros, concealed thanks to a system of false invoices allowing Nicolas Sarkozy to remain in the nails fixed by the law … And today, despite his new life manager of a country lodge in the Périgord, Jérôme Lavrilleux also knows that he is still seen as the “lieutenant” of Jean-François Cope, whose cabinet he headed at the time of the events.

Politics pass. But the currents persist. No one is therefore really surprised that he rather designates Nicolas Sarkozy as responsible for the fraudulent assembly. Not directly. But not very subtly either. ” Who ? I’ve been asking this question for seven years, he got carried away at the stand. But the decisions are taken at the Élysée. “Quoting a list of relatives of the former president, he concludes:” It is not I who define the campaign strategy … “

Film the crowd to show it … to trample it

And it is precisely from the “strategy” that the whole problem comes, according to him. While the accounts were already clearly moving towards the red in March, he would then have been asked to move up a gear on the meetings. To the point of organizing up to one per day! “At each meeting, the candidate gained 0.5 points in [les sondages de] Paris Match. And we left on a lollipop… ”

And to quote the gatherings where it was necessary “to film the crowd to broadcast on a giant screen images to this same crowd”. And even to criticize the candidate’s 24-page letter, far too large to be folded and slipped into mailboxes. “They have rotted in the boxes,” he balances on this subject. In summary: “This campaign was crazy … No matter what it cost, the important thing was to win …” Except that Nicolas Sarkozy lost. And that Jérôme Lavrilleux has the impression today of being the favorite target of a clay court.

Sitting on either side of him in the courtroom, the other defendants in the case would also have a hard time proving him wrong, as they know that their fates are now linked. And that the facts that brought them to court are now characterized. Except that no one seems to know who really had the idea of ​​setting up the system. The hearing as a witness of Jean-François Cope, scheduled for Wednesday, June 9, could provide more information. Unless we have to wait for the interrogation of Nicolas Sarkozy the week of the 14th?

Caroline Viguier must already think about it and polish her weapons. She has until the 22nd to try to see things clearly. She will then put her decision under advisement. We will therefore have to wait a little longer to find out what she really thought of Jérôme Lavrilleux’s hearing.

Follow this trial live on our journalist’s Twitter account: @vvantighem





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