FORMER PDT SARKOZY SENTENCED TO 1 YEAR JAIL OVER BYGMALION AFFAIR FOR

USPA NEWS - Former French president , Nicolas Sarkozy is sentenced to one year in prison, by the Paris criminal court, in the Bygmalion case of over invoicing of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign expenses in 2012. His sentence will be adjusted under electronic surveillance. The court goes further than requisitions. One year in prison, of which 6 months was required against the former President of the Republic. His lawyer Thierry Herzog, says he will appeal. The thirteen (13) other defendants in the Bygmalion case were sentenced this Thursday by the Paris Criminal Court for the establishment of a false invoice system intended to hide the explosion in campaign costs by 22€M over the maximum fixed by the CNCCFP. The National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP) estimated that this amount could not be less than € M 22,8. Jerome Lavrilleux, chief of staff of Jean-François Cope then boss of the UMP (Ex Les Républicains Party fo te French Right) and deputy campaign director of Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced to 3 years in prison, and an additional sentence of 3 years of ineligibility including 2 years closed. His sentence will also be adjusted.

The former president of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy is sentenced to one year in prison, by the Paris criminal court, in the Bygmalion case of over invoicing of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign expenses in 2012. His sentence will be adjusted under electronic surveillance. The court goes further than requisitions. One year in prison, of which 6 months was required against the former President of the Republic. His lawyer Thierry Herzog, says he will appeal. The thirteen (13) other defendants in the Bygmalion case were sentenced this Thursday by the Paris Criminal Court for the establishment of a false invoice system intended to hide the explosion in campaign costs by 22€M over the maximum fixed by the CNCCFP. The National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing (CNCCFP) estimated that this amount could not be less than € M 22,8. Jerome Lavrilleux, chief of staff of Jean-François Cope then boss of the UMP (Ex Les Républicains Party fo te French Right) and deputy campaign director of Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced to 3 years in prison, including 2 years closed. His sentence will also be adjusted. The court pronounces an additional sentence of 3 years of ineligibility. Prosecutors requested last June a year in prison, including 6 months, against Nicolas Sarkozy, the heaviest sentence for "illegal financing of election campaign". The prosecution believes that by asking for "a meeting a day", "American shows" without worrying about expenses, the president-candidate had "undoubtedly" benefited from the fraud, having means much greater than those that the law allowed. The magistrates had also denounced the "carelessness" of Nicolas Sarkozy who had appeared before the court only once for his questioning. The "total casualness" of the one who "visibly regrets nothing" is "like the casualness in his campaign," had tackled the prosecutor. Bastien Millot is sentenced to 3 years in prison, including 18 months suspended for complicity in forgery and use of forgery. Guy Alves is sentenced to a two-year sentence, one of which is suspended. The prison sentence of the two founders of Bygmalion is converted into home detention under electronic surveillance.

ALL THE LEADERS OF BYGMALION WERE RECOGNIZED GUILTY OF SCAM---------------------------------------------- The leaders of the company "Bygmalion" of financing of presidential campaign in 2012, of Nicolas Sarkozy, were found guilty. Thus, it is, Guillaume Lambert, the campaign director of Nicolas Sarkozy, Philippe Briand and Philippe Blanchetier, members of the campaign financing association, Pierre Godet and Marc Leblanc, the party's accountants, were all found guilty of fraud. The leaders of Bygmalion found guilty of complicity in forgery and use of forgery for having participated in the ventilation system set up to hide the explosion of expenses of the electoral campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. Bygmalion had sent false invoices to the UMP for several meetings of the candidate. Franck Attal, Bastien Millot, Sébastien Borivent and Guy Alves are found guilty.

CAROLINE VIGUIER PRESIDENT OF THE CORRECTIONAL COURT REFERS TO "UNPRECEDENTED FACTS OF GRAVITY" The "total casualness" of the one who "visibly regrets nothing" is "like the casualness in his campaign," had launched the prosecutor Vanessa Perree. Caroline Viguier, president of the correctional court evoked facts of "unprecedented gravity", justifying the sentence which fell for the fourteen defendants ... of the Bygmalion Affair. She argues that this fraud had "undermined the confidence that 'it was possible to wait for the defendants "and" undermined the legislator's concern for transparency. "Mixed prison sentences, that is to say with a firm party, must" guard against the risk of recidivism "but" essential because the fraud with regard to its amount and the quality of the authors is of an unprecedented gravity. "She adds that the former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy is convicted of" illegal financing of electoral campaign "." Nicolas Sarkozy knew the amount of the ceiling, he knew that the stake was to avoid an overrun ", argued the president of the criminal court. "He continued to hold meetings, allowed new services, incurred expenses and voluntarily omitted, as a candidate, to exercise control over expenses," she added. Sentences ranging from eighteen months to four years in suspended prison were requested against the 13 other defendants. Against Jérôme Lavrilleux - the only one in the UMP to have partially admitted the fraud - the public prosecutor requested three years in prison and a 50,000 euros fine. Three former managers of the Bygmalion company, organizer of meetings during this 2007 campaign, acknowledged the establishment of a fraud, with the exception of Bastien Millot, the founder of the company. SOurce: Bfm, TMC TV