Trial of Elysée’s polls: when presidency thought “escape common law”

The first week of hearing focused on the responsibilities of Sarkozy presidential members in signing, without complying with the procedures of public procurement, contracts with Patrick Buisson and Pierre Giacometti.

by

“We come back to the heart of the problem: what was the law applicable at the time, before we commit reforms, the presidency of the Republic?” of a sentence pronounced of his teaching tone at the bar of The 32 e Correctional Chamber of Paris, Claude Gueant summarized the first days of hearing at the trial of the Case of the Elysée polls.

Former Secretary General of Nicolas Sarkozy, the ex-director of Cute Emmanuelle Cabinet and the Councilor “surveys” of the time, Julien Vaulpré, are continued for having passed, without call for tenders or competition , contracts with the Patrick Buisson Shadow Advisor and the former Director General of the Ipsos Pierre Giacometti Institute – also defended – for the provision of polls and opinion councils. The Defense of the team surrounding Mr. Sarkozy at the Elysée holds in two points: on the one hand, the possibility for a head of state to choose the providers who advise him; and, on the other hand, the total absence at the time of the framework on the markets made by the Elysee.

Wednesday, October 20, Emmanuelle Cute at a long time discussed his “amazement” when she discovers, at random of the Organization of Christmas of the Elysée, that “the presidency does not apply the code of public contracts for fifty years ” The “Note Beverageis”, an undated circular, signed by an accountant who served under the mandate of General de Gaulle (1959-1969), is the only legal document as it is presented as a reference. Product at the hearing, this short text typed at the machine evokes, in full, the “extremely flexible mode” with which the means granted to the presidency should be managed, “in a way the direct heirs of the royal cassette”. An account is open to the Treasury on behalf of the Elysee, which can use it as it is. “One has the impression of an edict of the king”, note President Benjamin Blanchet, who has fun of another paragraph of the same rating where it is specified that the presidential cellar “is the personal property of the head of the State “, which can freely dispose of it at the end of its mandate.

Brief document

According to his story, M me launches, at the end of 2007, in the “site” of enforcing the public procurement code to the services of the Presidency. Not without “resistance” on the part of the services, panicked to the idea of ​​having to submit to the tendering procedures. It is she who agrees that the Court of Auditors conducts a management of presidential expenditures. In 2009, the institution of Cambon Street points, in a report, the irregularities of contracts on surveys, which will be the starting point of the whole affair. “Have done all this to meet me, fourteen years later, before your jurisdiction …”, sighs Emmanuelle cute, before welcoming that the Elysée is now “one of the best controlled executives in the world”: “it gives a little balm to the heart. “

You have 47.68% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.

/Media reports.