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Former Sarkozy aide indicted over false invoices

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French lawmaker and former Sarkozy aide Jerome Lavrilleux was charged Monday on charges of falsifying invoices during the 2012 French presidential campaign.

Lavrilleux made headlines last year after he tearfully confessed to accounting blunders on French television channel BFMTV, referring to "a train going at full speed" when talking about the campaign numbers debacle that besmirched the centre-right UMP party.

The affair centres around the party's communication firm Bygmalian filing false invoices to avoid reaching campaign spending limits of 22.5 million euros ($25.3 million).

Investigators estimate that over 18 million euros of campaign spending was passed off as fictitious political events through sham invoices.

Lavrilleux stands accused of forgery, breach of trust and complicity in fraud and illegal financing, said a judicial source.

"I was indicted unsurprisingly because I was already summoned for indictment," Lavrilleux told reporters, adding that his hearing had lasted six hours.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has yet to be questioned over the scandal.

The former head of state is back in the political arena after his party made gains in the local elections, but several court cases could bar Sarkozy's way back to the Elysee Palace.

Last month the scandal-tainted UMP party was renamed The Republicans.

French lawmaker and former Sarkozy aide Jerome Lavrilleux was charged Monday on charges of falsifying invoices during the 2012 French presidential campaign.

Lavrilleux made headlines last year after he tearfully confessed to accounting blunders on French television channel BFMTV, referring to “a train going at full speed” when talking about the campaign numbers debacle that besmirched the centre-right UMP party.

The affair centres around the party’s communication firm Bygmalian filing false invoices to avoid reaching campaign spending limits of 22.5 million euros ($25.3 million).

Investigators estimate that over 18 million euros of campaign spending was passed off as fictitious political events through sham invoices.

Lavrilleux stands accused of forgery, breach of trust and complicity in fraud and illegal financing, said a judicial source.

“I was indicted unsurprisingly because I was already summoned for indictment,” Lavrilleux told reporters, adding that his hearing had lasted six hours.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has yet to be questioned over the scandal.

The former head of state is back in the political arena after his party made gains in the local elections, but several court cases could bar Sarkozy’s way back to the Elysee Palace.

Last month the scandal-tainted UMP party was renamed The Republicans.

AFP
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