Bygmalion case: the overruns of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign costs are “a spitting against the c – franceinfo

While the former President of the Republic and 13 other defendants have just been convicted in the Bygmalion case, Maître William Bourdon, lawyer specializing in corruption cases, believes Thursday, September 30 on franceinfo that the overruns of campaign costs are “a spit towards the citizens and the law”.

>> Bygmalion case: Nicolas Sarkozy appealed against his conviction. Follow our live.

The conviction of Nicolas Sarkozy to one year in prison on Thursday for the illegal financing of his campaign for the 2012 presidential election in the Bygmalion affair, inspires the lawyer to “ambivalent feeling”: “At the same time, it shows that judges in this country know how to resist pressure, judge rigorously, professionally, independently. It is the expression of this capacity of judges not to be intimidated in the face of more powerful “.

However, William Bourdon believes that‘”We cannot be very pleased that France is the only European country in which a former head of state is now sentenced twice to prison terms [l’affaire des écoutes il y a quelques mois]. The overruns [des plafonds des frais de campagne autorisés par la loi], it is spitting on citizens and the law, it is a form of rampant privatization of the countryside. “

“The citizens expect from this country that the financing rules painfully constructed in France are respected.”

Maître William Bourdon, lawyer specializing in corruption cases

to franceinfo

“Because they are a guarantee, both of competition between candidates and of the integrity of the means of financing”, the lawyer continues. “Nicolas Sarkozy keeps saying ‘I am a citizen like any other’: not quite. He is someone who applied for the highest office, maker of law, supposed to embody an absolute requirement of respect for the law, reminds Me Bourdon. A head of state is not expected to take advantage of the power bestowed upon him precisely to abuse his power and break the law. “