This Christmas, Claude Gueant will indeed spend it in prison. The hope of being free for the end of the year celebrations has vanished for the 76-year-old former interior minister.
After having paid all of his debt thanks to loans granted to his relatives, Claude Guéant hoped to quickly regain his freedom. Incarcerated in the prison of Health since December 13, in application of his conviction in 2017 in the case of the cash bonuses of the Ministry of the Interior, the former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy asked for his release. Europe 1 announces this Tuesday, December 21, 2021 that this request will not be studied before January 19, 2022 by the judge.
Claude Guéant paid 292,000 euros to settle the debt owed to the Public Treasury, according to a slip consulted by AFP, following a conviction in 2017 which the courts considered that he did not meet the obligations. In detail, “Claude Guéant paid 133,315.95 euros to set his debt to zero but also settled that of“one of the co-convicts (who) had not paid his full share and it is a joint debt therefore due 100% by each convict“, according to his lawyer, Me Philippe Bouchez El-Ghozi. According to him, this was done thanks to loans granted by relatives.
In the case of the cash bonuses of the Ministry of the Interior, the former right-hand man of Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on January 23, 2017 on appeal to two years of imprisonment, one of which was suspended on probation and 75,000 euros of fine. He was serving this sentence – which became final two years later after the rejection of his cassation appeal – under conditional release.
In early November, however, the Paris Court of Appeal revoked part of his suspension (3 months) and his parole (6 months), considering that Mr. Guéant was not making the necessary payments to pay the fine and the damages he had been inflicted on. It is in execution of these decisions that Claude Guéant was placed in jail for nine months, Me Bouchez El-Ghozi had specified to AFP.