Three allies of former French president charged News
Three allies of former French president charged

[JURIST] Three allies of French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy [BBC profile] were charged Saturday for their connection to a fraud investigation of Sarkozy’s failed 2012 presidential campaign. Top aide Eric Cesari, party financial director Fabienne Liadze, and the former communications chief Pierre Chassat have been charged with forgery and abuse of trust in connection with what has become known as the “Bygmalion affair,” in which the public relations firm Bygmalion billed the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) [official website, French] approximately 18.5 million euros during the campaign in order to bypass the 22.5 million euro limit on campaign expenses. The three men were arrested on Thursday, and held for two days for questioning before being brought before a judge Saturday to be charged. Sarkozy has continuously denied all allegations regarding the Bygmalion affair.

Sarkozy’s post-presidential legal troubles started shortly after he lost the 2012 election and have been ongoing ever since. In July Sarkozy was taken into police custody for questioning [JURIST report] regarding allegations of misuse of influence and illegal campaign financing. Specifically, anti-corruption investigators were looking into whether Sarkozy used his political influence to encourage a judge to share information with him about judicial proceedings into his 2007 presidential campaign funding. In September 2013 a French appeals court allowed [JURIST report] an investigation to proceed into allegations that Sarkozy exploited L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, medically diagnosed with dementia, into donating to his political campaign. The charges were dropped [JURIST report] the following month. In April 2013 French authorities opened a judicial investigation into allegations that Sarkozy accepted illicit funds [Reuters report] from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.