Things were going so well for Nicolas Sarkozy, former president of France. After announcing he will once again seek his country’s highest office, he set about calling for party unity; promising to make Britain process asylum seekers in the United Kingdom, not France; and pledging to ban the burkini.
But nothing gold can stay, and that includes Sarkozy news coverage focused on his anti-Islamic rhetoric. For, on Monday, the French prosecutor’s office said that Sarkozy should stand trial for overspending in his 2012 presidential campaign.
From the BBC:
Mr Sarkozy lost the 2012 race to Francois Hollande, but is hoping to run again in next year’s election.
He said he left it to subordinates to raise campaign funds.
The advice from the prosecutor’s office in Paris is not definitive - an investigating magistrate will now make a final decision over whether Mr Sarkozy should stand trial.
Sarkozy has denied that he knew of overspending, but the prosecutor’s office has noted that he was nevertheless responsible for his campaign, and therefore also for claims that his party “connived with a friendly PR company to hide the true cost of his 2012 presidential election campaign.”
It could be worse, though. Elsewhere in France, the man who was once charged with fighting tax evasion has been charged with tax evasion. C’est la vie, non?
