All the defendants were seated around the former president (except for the four on the run abroad), sporting dark suits, serious tones and appropriately grim expressions. They were the survivors of the “firm” – a nod to the title of John Grisham’s novel – the all-powerful team dedicated to the rise of then-interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy starting in 2006. They are under judicial supervision and theoretically are not allowed to talk to each other – but that didn’t stop them from saying hello.
The firm has aged: Claude Guéant, Sarkozy’s former right-hand man, walked with hesitant strides, and looked every part of the 80-year-old man he would be in a few days; Brice Hortefeux, a lifelong friend of Sarkozy, was holding on to what little hair he has left, now more white than blond. On the other hand, Sarkozy’s healthy glow spoke to his recent family vacation in the Seychelles. When asked by the court, which started judging them on Monday, January 6, for the alleged Libyan financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign, to state their identity and profession, they all called themselves “retired,” except Eric Woerth, still an MP, and the former president, who declared himself a “lawyer.”
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