French former president Sarkozy gets year in prison for illegal financing campaign | Abroad

The case revolved around the so-called Bygmalion affair. Sarkozy was elected president in 2007, and his campaign team and collaborators spent the early months of 2012 throwing money at him to get him re-elected. Ultimately, 20 million euros more would have been spent on the election campaign than was allowed by law.

Sarkozy’s team allegedly tampered with accounts to cover up the size of that amount. As a result, they would not have appeared in the administration of the election campaign, but were passed on to his party, the UMP. The expensive election rallies were organized by the consultancy Event & Cie., a subsidiary of Bygmalion.

Sarkozy was the first French ex-president in modern history to be jailed in March this year for corruption. The judges found him guilty of attempted bribery of a judge and abuse of power during his presidency. He was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, but has appealed the verdict.

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