JEAN Sarkozy, the son of president Nicolas Sarkozy, appeared before a Paris criminal court yesterday after a motorist accused him of using his contacts to avoid conviction over a traffic accident which took place in October 2005 near the Champs-Elysées.
Dressed in a black suit and tie, the 20-year-old law student who is the younger of Mr Sarkozy's two sons from his first marriage, stood accused of fleeing after damaging the back bumper of a newly-purchased BMW belonging to M'Hammed Bellouti with his
scooter on 14 October, 2005. Mr Bellouti, who said he did not learn the identity of the scooter's driver until police traced its owner using its registration plates, also accused the president's son of making "an offensive gesture" as he rode off.
"What is important is that Jean Sarkozy is judged like everybody else," his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, told a courtroom packed with journalists yesterday as he argued that the accusations had been concocted and were without foundation. To back up his defence of Sarkozy jnr, he produced the results of a private expert's report which claimed that the scooter could not have caused the damage to the BMW alleged by Mr Bellouti.
Mr Bellouti, who says he is a member of Mr Sarkozy's conservative UMP party, is demanding that the president's son pay him 260 (£185) for the repairs to his car and 4,000 (£2,846) in interest and damages.
Jean Sarkozy declared to the court: "I have nothing with which to reproach myself". The case was then adjourned until 25 June, 2008 after judges ordered a new, independent expert's report "to establish the exact circumstances."
Sarkozy jnr and his scooter have hit the headlines once already this year when it was revealed that police had used DNA testing in order to help them find the vehicle which had been stolen on 7 January. The Socialist-led opposition accused him of being an object of favouritism, pointing out that DNA testing was normally reserved for serious criminal cases and that it was unheard of for it to be used to elucidate the theft of a scooter.
The full article contains 366 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
