the former president of the Republic denies any Libyan financing for his 2007 campaign

Foreign money to finance his 2007 campaign? “I didn’t need it” : “the meetings were overflowing”, “the supporters were rushing in”firmly brushed aside, Monday January 13, Nicolas Sarkozy at his trial for corruption in Paris, describing the craze “exceptional” that had sparked his candidacy for the presidential election.

Nicolas Sarkozy has been on trial, since January 6 and until April 10, alongside eleven other defendants, for suspicion of financing of his 2007 presidential campaign by the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, in exchange for quid pro quo.

On the first day of the interrogations, President Nathalie Gavarino returns to the political career of the former tenant of the Elysée, who said she began, upon her election to the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1983, to build a career for herself. “presidential stature”.

Election as deputy in 1988, entry into government in 1993, episode of the hostage taking in Neuilly-sur-Seine which made him known at the level « national »break with his mentor Jacques Chirac for the unfortunate campaign of Edouard Balladur…? The president traces the thread of her rise, until her entry into government in 2002, her election at the head of the UMP two years later against a backdrop of war with the Chiraquians, and finally her inauguration for the presidential election in 2007.

“I had the wind in my sails”

“When did you think about financing? »asked Nathalie Gavarino.

“Never, because it’s never been a problem. From the moment I became president of the UMP, the party continued to garner thousands of supporters, there were 335,000 members. I had the wind in my sails, the support was rushing in, the activists, it was at a level that no one has ever achieved, the meetings were overflowing with people”debits the accused, specifying that he even installed at the headquarters of the “first party in France” a « machine » which displayed “in real time” new memberships.

At most he went to “fundraising lunches or dinners” organized by “the whole team around Eric Woerth”. “I have never chosen a service provider from my campaign nor met a service provider from my campaign”he adds, wanting to distinguish himself from the outset from the treasurer of his campaign, who was also informed but absent on Monday.

“I was not at the head of a sect or a clan, but of a vast popular movement, my majority went from Philippe de Villiers to Bernard Kouchner, it’s immense! »he insists.

“So you are not tempted to go and ask a foreign head of state for money at the end of 2006? »reminds the magistrate. ” No. One: I had no idea, I'm not crazy. Two: I didn't need it. Three: there are lots of heads of state that I knew, because I was an interior minister who never stopped traveling”he continues.

The questions then move on to his relationships with two other co-defendants seated behind him: Claude Guéant, his “closest colleague”and Brice Hortefeux, a “great friend” met during a meeting where the future president spoke when they were barely 20 years old. “He said to me: “I want to be with you” (…)I arranged to meet him in a drugstore three days later to have an ice cream, and we became friends”adds Nicolas Sarkozy.