prison sentence for Guéant in the name of setting an example

“The President of the Republic and his collaborators are indebted to the French people for a duty of probity, impartiality and exemplarity”, which was not respected by Claude Guéant and Emmanuelle Mignon, when they were, respectively, the secretary general of the Elysée and the chief of staff of Nicolas Sarkozy. It is in the name of this principle of setting an example for senior State servants that the President of the 32e correctional chamber of Paris, Benjamin Blanchet, sentenced Claude Guéant to one year in prison, including eight months, for favoritism. In November 2021, during the trial, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office had requested one year in prison, including six months firm.

For the court, Mr. Guéant, by his “exemplary career” as prefect, he might only ignore the fact that by signing with the companies of Patrick Buisson and Pierre Giacometti, two advisers to the presidency, contracts without a call for tenders for several million euros, he was violating the Public Procurement Code. An attitude “symptomatic of a loss of cardinal landmarks and of privilege granted to private economic actors”, notes the court, which recalls that the presidency “must embody the nation, above partisan interests, and protect the rule of law”.

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Absent from the hearing, Mr. Guéant, aged 77, is already in prison following the revocation of his reprieve in another case, that of the cash bonuses paid illegally when he was Minister of the Interior. His sentence adjustment had been removed in December 2021, since he did not pay his fines. His continued detention is to be reviewed on February 7. His lawyer has announced that he intends to appeal the judgment in the polls case.

“Violation of the rule of law”

The court was a little less severe with regard to Emmanuelle Mignon, sentenced to six months suspended for having implemented the contracts as chief of staff. The lawyer might not ignore the illegal nature of the agreements made with Publifact and Publi-Opinion – the companies of Patrick Buisson – or with Giacometti-Péron – that of Mr. Giacometti –, considers the court. He picks up a “ambivalent attitude” on his part, this “guilty casualness” concerning these contracts, contrasting with its “determination to end the arbitrary system” which prevailed at the Elysée until his arrival – Mme Mignon is the one who set up the first tender procedures for the presidency, from 2008.

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