Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy appeared in court on Tuesday and denied any role in the alleged illegal financing of his 2012 re-election campaign.
A Paris court will determine if Mr Sarkozy was aware of a system of false invoices allegedly intended to cover up election overspending.
The former president, 66, is accused of spending almost twice the legal maximum of €22.5 million ($27.5m) on the presidential race he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande.
The trial began last month but on Tuesday Mr Sarkozy made his first appearance.
“You have in front of you someone whose life has been dedicated to politics for 40 years,” he told the court. Mr Sarkozy said he was the political leadership of the campaign but was not involved in organisational or logistical details. He said that as the incumbent president fighting for re-election he had other priorities, including newspaper interviews, TV appearances and more than 40 rallies between mid-February and May 2012. He said he “never” gave any direct instruction to service providers in charge of the organisation of his rallies because his team did that. His comments were in response to an investigative magistrate’s conclusions that Mr Sarkozy and his team decided to hold “spectacular and expensive rallies” in 2012, contributing to the alleged campaign cost of €42.8m.
The investigation did not establish whether Mr Sarkozy took an active part in the process or ordered fraudulent actions himself.
Twelve other people and the company that organising the campaign rallies face charges ranging from forgery to breach of trust, fraud and complicity in illegal campaign financing.
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Read more about the coronavirus
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
RESULT
Everton 2 Huddersfield Town 0
Everton: Sigurdsson (47'), Calvert-Lewin (73')
Man of the Match: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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