In the Élysée polls affair, Claude Guéant, former secretary general of the French presidency under Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced to one year in prison, including 8 months, with a deferred committal order. Patrick Buisson, then close adviser to the Head of State, was also sentenced, as well as the former pollster Pierre Giacometti and Emmanuelle Mignon, then chief of staff.
In this case, which dates back to the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former secretary general of the Élysée, Claude Guéant, and Emmanuelle Mignon, chief of staff at the time, were tried for having ordered, between 2007 and 2012, million euros of surveys to the company of Patrick Buisson, then close adviser to the president, to that of Pierre Giacometti, ex-pollster as well as to the Ipsos institute…and this, without advertising or call for tenders, precise Laura Martel, of the RFI France service.
Claude Guéant, currently imprisoned due to a previous conviction, was sentenced to one year in prison this Friday, January 21, including 8 months, with a deferred deposit warrant.
Patrick Buisson, then a close adviser to the Head of State, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 150,000 euros and the former pollster Pierre Giacometti was given a 6-month suspended sentence and 70,000 euros. fine. At the time director of cabinet, Emmanuelle Mignon was sanctioned with a 6-month suspended prison sentence. On the other hand, the former opinion leader Julien Vaulpré was released.
guilty of favoritism
Locked for more than a month at the prison of Health the former Minister of the Interior Claude Guéant, 77, was not present in the box for the reading of the judgment of the 32nd correctional chamber, being represented by his lawyer. He had been sentenced in the case of the cash bonuses of the Ministry of the Interior to a sentence of 2 years, including one year suspended on probation.
►Also read: Cash bonuses: Guéant sentenced to two years in prison, suspended
The court found him guilty of favoritism. Considering the ” gravity “facts and” personality by Claude Guéant, the court considered that there was no need to adjust the firm part of the sentence.
Patrick Buisson also sentenced
In this case, the court ruled that the millions of euros in political advice and polls billed to the Élysée between 2007 and 2012 by the companies of Patrick Buisson and Pierre Giacometti, as well as by the Ipsos Institute, had done well. object of favoritism.
Two contracts signed by Patrick Buisson, 72, also constitute a misappropriation of public funds to the tune of 1.4 million euros, explained President Benjamin Blanchet when pronouncing the decision.
According to these conventions, the historian from the far right was paid 10,000 euros per month for advice and could also deliver polls at his own discretion: between 2007 and 2009, he bought and then resold 235 opinion polls, with margins of 65 to 71%, for a profit of 1.4 million euros.
Patrick Buisson was also sentenced for misuse of corporate assets to the detriment of his companies. The court finally considered that the one who was director of cabinet, Emmanuelle Mignon, should be condemned for favoritism and embezzlement of public funds by negligence, for having signed some of these disputed contracts.
Nicolas Sarkozy, benefiting from presidential immunity, was not involved in this trial, but the court had imposed on him to appear as a witness. He had kept silent, invoking the principle of separation of powers.
Claude Guéant will appeal his conviction, his lawyer told AFP.