Sarkozy Tells Campaign Finance Trial the ‘Cost of Flags’ Was Not His Affair

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives for a hearing in a trial over alleged illegal financing of his failed reelection campaign in 2012, with 13 other defendants, former officials of Bygmalion and representatives of the UMP, at the courthouse in Paris, France, on June 15, 2021. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

PARIS—Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy denied wrongdoing on Tuesday at his trial over the illegal financing of his failed 2012 reelection campaign, saying its expenses were not his responsibility.

It had never been expected of his predecessors to scrutinize campaign bills, he told the Paris court. “Can you imagine me going into a meeting to discuss the cost of flags?” he said. “I wouldn’t have lasted two minutes. I had too much to do.”