The Sarkozy regime continues to battle allegations of illegal political 'donations'. Yesterday government spokesmen claimed Monsieur le Président had been cleared when the former Bettencourt accountant backtracked on earlier claims that Sarko was among the right wing politicians who regularly received cash from the major shareholder in L'Oréal. However, closer examination of the 'retraction' reveals that she says she told the media site, which broke the story, that Sarkozy only 'may' have been among the beneficiaries of the Bettencourt largesse, rather than claiming she definitely saw him, as was originally reported. She also holds to the claim that the Bettencourt financial manager told her he was giving 150000 euros in cash to the Sarkozy presidential campaign in 2007. A bank official at the branch 50000 euros were allegedly withdrawn from has now categorically denied speaking to the accountant, who claims she told her the money was to fund the Sarko campaign. Is that the sound of UMP thumbscrews being applied?
Elsewhere in the media, the left-wing magazine Marianne claims to have seen the famous account books kept by the accountant, and reports that they show cash withdrawals totalling 380000 euros in the first 3 months of 2007 (compared to about 60000 in the equivalent period the previous year, when there was no presidential election campaign). The Bettencourt lawyers say the cash withdrawals were all to cover the personal expenses of André Bettencourt, but Marianne says that only about 180000 worth of spending is accounted for in the books. All rather surreal. How can anyone need sixty thousand euros worth of petty cash per month, let alone a hundred grand plus, and haven't billionaires heard of credit cards?
Meanwhile the Tour de France reaches the end of a rather eventful first week, characterised by sundry crashes, hot weather, government politicians making a point of comparing the approachability of the cyclists comported to French international footballers, and a lot of fuss surrounding the poor form and behaviour of the British 'bad boy' of sprinting. When Mark Cavendish finally won his first stage of this year's tour yesterday, he promptly burst into floods of tears in the middle of a live interview on French television, and it took a full minute before he managed to recover sufficient composure to continue. Which appears to have rather endeared him to the French media, who love a good bit of high sporting emotion.
And in local news, it's hot in Lyon today. Very hot. And tomorrow, and…
