Former minister Claude Guéant will soon be tried in Nanterre for "
illicit financing
" of his 2012 legislative campaign, because of the distribution of a leaflet in his favor by the mayor LR of Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine) , AFP learned on Monday from a source close to the case.
The key man of the presidency Sarkozy, aged 76, must also be tried for "
fraud for the reimbursement of his campaign expenses
".
Read also Libyan funding: the judge closes the investigations on certain aspects concerning Guéant and Djouhri
In January 2012, Pierre-Christophe Baguet, mayor of Boulogne-Billancourt and outgoing deputy for Hauts-de-Seine, announced his support for Claude Guéant to his succession.
In a letter addressed to his constituents, he details the reasons for his support for Mr. Guéant, then still Minister of the Interior.
This leaflet had been denounced by the dissident candidate, Thierry Solère, who suspected Mr. Baguet of having financed it in part with money from the municipality.
The former right-hand man of Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated in the second round by Mr. Solère, now close to Emmanuel Macron.
"
During the upcoming hearing, (Claude Guéant) will continue to justify his innocence in this case in which he appears more, in reality, as being the victim of the clumsy act of a third party
", reacted his lawyer, Me Philippe Stopper El-Ghozi.
For his part Pierre-Christophe Baguet, who is still the LR mayor of Boulogne-Billancourt, admitted his guilt and must be tried in the coming weeks during an appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC), a sort of plea- French guilty. He admits to having inserted in a page of the municipal bulletin a message on the legislative elections, contributing in fact, according to the magistrates, to the campaign of Mr. Guéant. "
The mayor recognizes an error that the magistrates have qualified as an offense,
" reacted his lawyer, Me Mario Stasi.
This new trial for Claude Guéant is in addition to that of the polls paid by the Elysee under Nicolas Sarkozy, for which he is currently appearing in Paris for favoritism and embezzlement of public funds by negligence.
Mr. Guéant is also targeted in the investigation into possible Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign in 2007.
The former grand state clerk, now retired, was also definitively sentenced in 2019 to two years' imprisonment, including a firm, 75,000 euros fine and a ban on public office for five years. , in the Ministry of the Interior's cash bonus file.