Paris — Nicolas Sarközy dismissed police wiretaps of his secret conversations as “chatter” at a Paris trial where he became the first former French president to be cross-examined in a criminal case.
Sarközy, who is accused of offering to pull strings to help a court official land a job in exchange for his assistance, told presiding judge Christine Mée that he “never committed any act of corruption, ever”.
“It’s a folly to think there was a pact” of corruption, Sarközy told the Paris court on Monday. He never actually intervened to help the former court official.
Since losing his bid for a second term in 2012, Sarközy has been mired in legal woes. He is due back in court next year on charges that he illegally exceeded campaign-spending limits on his failed re-election bid and an investigation into alleged covert Libyan funding is ongoing.
Sarközy is only the second former French president to go on trial in modern times, and the first over corruption accusations. While the late Jacques Chirac was found guilty after he left office of misusing Paris city funds, he didn’t attend his trial for medical reasons.
Secret phone
He brushed off evidence gleaned by investigators who wiretapped a secret phone he used to speak with his lawyer at the time, who acted as a go-between, saying the conversations were taken out of context.
“These are snippets of phone conversations put together that give a sense of coherence when there is none,” Sarközy said.
While the trial started last week, Sarközy has only been able to make brief remarks as the opening days focused on two other defendants. “I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Sarközy said in an opening statement Monday afternoon. “I’m not afraid. I want this court, your court, to be the judge of whether we were corrupters or not.”
‘Take care’
Sarközy was quizzed about conversations dating back to 2014 with his then lawyer, co-defendant Thierry Herzog. In one of them, Sarközy says he’ll “take care” of helping the now-retired court official get a job in Monaco in exchange for his assistance in handling a lawsuit.
Even though he didn’t go through with it, the former president acknowledged that he was considering speaking to a Monaco minister about the job the court official was seeking. But he says he only considered doing so as a favour for Herzog, who he considers a “brother.”
“A hundred times in my life Thierry has asked me to be of service for friends of his,” Sarközy said, adding that he didn’t mention the job because the conversation with the minister was too short.
Under French law, simply offering to do a favour for an official is illegal, regardless of whether the promise is carried out, according to the indictment. All three defendants risk a maximum jail sentence of 10 years as well as a fine.
“I did not betray the confidence of the French people,” Sarközy said in his final remarks. “I answered all the court’s questions with sincerity. I want to be cleared and not through procedural means, but on the facts.”
Bloomberg
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