Paris (AFP)
Five former relatives of Nicolas Sarkozy appear since Monday for their role in the signing of consulting contracts and surveys during his five-year term (2007-2012).
In question, first of all an agreement concluded shortly after the election between the Elysee and Publifact, company of the influential adviser Patrick Buisson.
A contract concluded without a call for tenders which is worth to the one who signed it, Emmanuelle Mignon, prosecution for favoritism.
Camped at the helm in his black jacket, the former chief of staff of Nicolas Sarkozy explains that this contract was sent to him with, stapled, a business card annotated by the secretary general of the Elysée Claude Guéant: "thank you for putting the contract upon signature ".
"My reflex is to make sure that all this is regular," assures Ms. Mignon, who asks the head of the financial and personnel department, who has been in post since 1995, for a "check". there is no notable legal problem ", will write the latter.
"I can not imagine at that time that the presidency, for fifty years, does not apply the code of public contracts," she pleads.
At that time, the rules of public accounting did not apply to the Elysée.
A note in the file, written by a representative of General De Gaulle between 1959 and 1969, explains that the accounts of the presidency are "the heirs of the royal cassette, then the imperial", that they do not follow a "law written but the custom ".
"Jiminy Cricket de l'Elysée"
"The presidential cellar is the property of the Head of State. He can, on leaving office, either take it away or sell it at cost to his successor," we can read in particular.
"It is difficult to think that she could have governed the Elysee until you ... 2007, anyway! It seems to be reading almost an edict from the king," said President Benjamin Blanchet.
"If I had read this note, I would have burst out laughing or cried with sadness," reacts Ms. Mignon, who says she only discovered the situation in October 2007 and then initiated a "review" of practices.
But in June 2007, she said she was convinced that the code applied and that the contract with Patrick Buisson was one of the legal "exceptions".
"I was nicknamed the Jiminy Cricket of the Elysee, that is to say the good conscience of Pinocchio. I would have had no problem going to see the president" for a problem, she assures.
The contract provided for a remuneration of 10,000 euros for an advisory mission and the provision of surveys at the discretion of Patrick Buisson.
"It's a blank check", raises the lawyer of Anticor, civil party.
"This is not a drawing right on the finances of the Elysee," replied Ms. Mignon, who maintains that the polls were "capped" at 1.5 million euros.
"A contract, not a cloth"
When she is questioned by prosecutors, the tone rises.
- "Who is responsible for the finances of the Elysee?", Annoys one of them.
- "What did you want me to do?", Answers the defendant.
- "That you respect the law", he replies, "do not blame me (...) it is not my fault if the Elysee is a Spanish inn!"
- "You cannot blame me for all the dysfunctions of the Elysee Palace!", Replies Mme Mignon.
- "It is a contract, not a rag!", Argues the magistrate, "it is shameful to sign a contract like that. It is to offend your intelligence".
The public prosecutor "chose to implicate the one who brought order", then protested one of the defendant's lawyers.
Calm returned, Claude Guéant was called to the bar.
"Certainly there were operational difficulties, but I cannot allow it to be said that it was a Spanish hostel", he is offended.
Claude Guéant arrives in court for the Elysée polls trial, October 18, 2021 in Paris STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP
It was on "instruction" from Nicolas Sarkozy that the contract was put in place.
"I was told that the Elysee Palace escaped the common law of public management," he said.
Suspected of having organized the signing of a series of other disputed contracts, he claims to have been "aware" but "not to have intervened at all": "the secretary general of the Elysee cannot do everything".
© 2021 AFP