A week spent behind bars was enough for Claude Guéant to pay his debt to public finances. Jailed Monday after having delayed in repaying damages in the so-called “cash bonuses” case, for which he was definitively condemned for “embezzlement”, the former secretary general of the Elysee Palace paid on Thursday the 292,000 euros he owed to the Treasury.
The former right-hand man of Nicolas Sarkozy, 76, was sentenced in 2017 to two years in prison, one of which was closed, in the case of cash bonuses from the Ministry of the Interior. At the time when he occupied prestigious positions in Place Beauvau, when Sarkozy was Minister of the Interior, Guéant had acquired the habit of supplementing his end of the month with cash, tapped from the budget for the costs of investigation and surveillance (FES), theoretically dedicated to paying in cash for the sensitive missions of investigators, with complete discretion. Transfers of up to 5,000 euros per month, via large denominations. “Practice forming part of the uses”, had tried to justify Claude Guéant at the bar of the court. The offense of embezzlement of public funds had decided the justice: in January 2019, the Court of Cassation had definitively validated his conviction.
On Thursday, the former senior official therefore paid 133,315.95 euros “To put your debt at zero”, according to his lawyer. He also paid off a debt from one of the convicts in the case, who had not paid his full share: “It is a joint debt therefore due 100% by each convict”, said his lawyer. A repayment made possible thanks to loans made by relatives of the former number two of the Elysee, still according to his lawyer. In the process, the former boss of the national police requested a modification of the sentence aimed at his release. “This full payment makes it possible to justify an immediate release from prison”, justifies his lawyer.
In the context of the cash bonuses case, Claude Guéant was serving his sentence under parole. But at the beginning of November, during another case in which the former Minister of the Interior was targeted, that of the “Elysee polls”, justice plunged into the financial heritage of the senior official. And discovered that “Additional sources of income” could have “Allow more to be settled” and especially “earlier” the sums to be paid by Claude Guéant. A judicial investigation revealed in particular that the faithful Sarkozyste had sold gold, a watch, and that he had recovered funds from his life insurance.
It is within the framework of this case that justice decided to “revoke” his reprieve, leading to his imprisonment, Monday. A strong symbol, in these politico-financial cases, where the norm is that convicts most often serve their sentence under electronic wristbands …