Adiba Regragui, unwilling witness to the Bygmalion affair

The 13 defendants sent back in the Bygmalion affair alongside Nicolas Sarkozy since May 20 are not the only ones to come forward reluctantly. But there is one who hoped to stay away from this affair: Adiba Regragui. At 43, the former head of events at the UMP (now Les Républicains, LR), has been frankly feverish since she was cited as a witness by the defense of Guillaume Lambert, the former campaign manager of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012.

Small hand, she seems totally overwhelmed by the scope of her story, precious since an anonymous letter was sent on April 23, 2014 to the financial section of the Paris prosecutor’s office: the crow describes the progressive ousting of the young woman by the team of the secretary general of the UMP, Jean-François Copé, despite his experience, for the benefit of Event & Cie, a subsidiary of the Bygmalion agency, managed by relatives of the latter.

Put on the sidelines

To the investigators, Adiba Regragui confirmed how the chiefs of staff of Jean-François Copé, Pierre Chassat and Jérôme Lavrilleux (also deputy director of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign), methodically sidelined her between late 2011 and early 2012, period during which the amount of expenses of the presidential campaign exploded, exceeding the legal threshold.

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At the time, so that the campaign accounts of Nicolas Sarkozy remain officially in the nails, Event & Cie agreed to underestimate the amount of the invoices of the meetings. The amounts still to be paid were the subject of false invoices, paid directly by the UMP to the agency, under the guise of the organization of fictitious events or at an artificially inflated price.

Gold “Adiba Regragui, in the position she held, is the key which demonstrates the proximity between the UMP and Bygmalion, as well as the desire to work exclusively with its subsidiary, Event & Cie”, believes Christophe Ingrain, Guillaume Lambert’s lawyer, who denies having participated in this breakdown of accounts. Second knife who did not ask anyone, Adiba Regragui could thus contribute to the thesis of a gas plant set up by the entourage of Jean-François Cope behind the back of Nicolas Sarkozy and his team to supply the cash registers. party.

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On March 20, when she met the defendants during the first hearing, – postponed due to the absence of Jérôme Lavrilleux’s lawyers suffering from Covid-19 -, the Cope clan “Shot her the look “, tells a witness … “I am still under the influence of all this”, she blurted out today, before bursting into tears and cutting short any discussion.

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