PARIS — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared in court Tuesday, angrily denying wrongdoing during a trial over the allegedly illegal financing of his unsuccessful 2012 reelection bid.
Sarkozy, 66, is facing allegations that he spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of $27.5 million on the presidential race he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande.
Sarkozy made his first appearance Tuesday at the trial which started last month. The Paris court is seeking to determine whether he was aware of the system of false invoices that was meant to cover up the overspending.
Sarkozy vehemently denied that: “Did I intend to cook the books, do false invoices, was I not careful enough, was I negligent? The answer is no.”
“You have in front of you someone whose life has been dedicated to politics for 40 years,” he told the court, describing how he took part in over 40 rallies, in addition to newspaper interviews and television shows between mid-February and May 2012.
Voice raised in anger, Sarkozy said he had the political leadership of the campaign, but was not involved in organization and logistical details, stressing that as the incumbent president he had other priorities.
He said he “never” gave any direct instruction to service providers in charge of the organization of his rallies, because he had a team to do that.
Sarkozy also strongly denied that his 2012 re-election bid had been organized on a much broader scale than his successful 2007 campaign — whose financing has not been put into question.
“I’d like someone to explain to me how my campaign was bigger in 2012 than in 2007? That’s not true. And if someone knows it, that’s me!” he said.
The comments came in response to an investigative magistrate’s conclusions that Sarkozy and his team decided to hold “spectacular and expensive rallies” in 2012. The campaign’s total cost allegedly reached at least $52 million.
