Sarkozy sentenced to jail for campaign spending violations

PanARMENIAN.Net - A French court on Thursday, September 30 sentenced Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, to a year in jail for illegally financing his failed 2012 re-election campaign by wildly exceeding France’s strict electoral spending limits, The new York Times reports.

Sarkozy, 66, was president from 2007 to 2012. Though he is no longer active in politics and continues to be dogged by multiple legal entanglements, he is still an influential voice on the French right. Shortly after the verdict, his lawyer announced that Sarkozy would appeal the conviction.

It is the second time that Sarkozy has been sentenced to prison. In March, he became the first former president in France’s recent history to be sentenced to actual jail time after he was convicted on charges of corruption and influence peddling for trying to illegally obtain information from a judge on a legal case against him.

Sarkozy has appealed that conviction, which put the sentence on hold. Still, it made him only the second former president in France’s modern history to be convicted of a crime — Jacques Chirac was found guilty in 2011 of embezzling and misusing public funds when he was mayor of Paris.

The verdict against Sarkozy on Thursday came after a yearslong investigation and a trial in May and June, both of which focused on his 2012 re-election campaign and on France’s stringent electoral rules.

Under French law, spending on electoral campaigns is capped to ensure candidates compete on a level playing field. In 2012, the limit for presidential campaigns, per candidate, was about €16.8 million, or about $19.7 million, in the first round of the elections, and about €5.7 million, or about $6.7 million, on top of that in the second round for the two top vote-getters, who included Sarkozy.