Claude Guéant, former secretary general of the presidency under Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced to eight months in prison

Currently imprisoned because of a previous conviction in the affair of the cash bonuses of the Ministry of the Interior, the former secretary general of the presidency under Nicolas Sarkozy, Claude Guéant, was seen inflicting, Friday, January 21, a year in prison, including eight months, with a deferred committal warrant, in the case of the Elysée polls.

Patrick Buisson, then a close adviser to the former Head of State, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence as well as a fine of 150,000 euros and the former pollster Pierre Giacometti, a six-month suspended sentence and 70,000 euro fine. At the time chief of staff, Emmanuelle Mignon was sanctioned with a six-month suspended sentence. On the other hand, the former opinion leader Julien Vaulpré was released.

Incarcerated in the prison of Health, in Paris, since December 13, Claude Guéant, 77, was absent and represented by his lawyer. He had been sentenced in the case of cash bonuses from the Ministry of the Interior to a two-year sentence, including one year suspended on probation.

In the case of polls, the court ruled that the millions of euros in political advice and polls billed to the Elysée between 2007 and 2012 by the companies of Patrick Buisson and Pierre Giacometti, as well as by the Ipsos Institute, had indeed been the subject of favoritism . Considering the “gravity” facts and “personality” of Claude Guéant, the justice considered that there was no need to adjust the firm part of the sentence.

Nicolas Sarkozy was not prosecuted in this case because he benefited from presidential criminal immunity. MBut the judges had called him as a witness to “the manifestation of the truth” beginning of November. The former President of the Republic had refused to answer questions.