Fillon case: the appeal trial of the former Prime Minister and his wife opened in Paris

Published on : 11/15/2021 – 4:04 PM

The appeal trial of former Prime Minister François Fillon, his wife and his ex-deputy began Monday, November 15 in Paris, in the case of the suspicion of fictitious jobs of Penelope Fillon.

Midnight blue suit, salt and pepper hair, the one who was head of government between 2007 and 2012, now 67, entered the courtroom without speaking to the press with his wife, 66 years old, short silver hair, wearing a blue mask.

This second trial is held nearly a year and a half after the first instance conviction of the former tenant of Matignon for embezzlement of public funds in particular, to five years’ imprisonment, two of which is closed, a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of ineligibility.

He immediately appealed.

Now retired, he has devoted the last few months to preparing his defense, assured his lawyer Me Antonin Lévy, for whom the stake of this trial is that his “innocence” and “that of his wife are finally recognized”.

The first day of the hearing must be devoted to procedural matters.

In the midst of the nomination debate at Les Républicains, the Court of Appeal examines this file until November 30, which led to the spectacular fall of the right-wing candidate during the 2017 presidential election.

“Fictitious” services

An investigation had been opened from the first revelations of the Chained Duck, January 24, 2017. The candidate, champion of integrity and favorite of the polls, had been examined six weeks before the first round, from which he was eliminated.

François Fillon will have to explain again about the employment of his wife as parliamentary assistant between 1998 and 2013, within the framework of three contracts signed by him and by the one who was then his deputy as deputy of Sarthe, Marc Joulaud .

Services remunerated 613,000 euros net (more than a million euros gross) “fictitious or overvalued” according to the prosecution, which considers that the activities of Penelope Fillon fell under the “social role” of a “spouse of a man political “, but not of a collaborator. The work of Penelope Fillon was certainly “discreet”, mostly oral but “essential”, has always claimed her husband.

The couple is also on trial for the employment of their two children as parliamentary assistants to their father senator between 2005 and 2007 (100,000 euros gross), as well as for the lucrative contract of Penelope Fillon as “literary advisor” in 2012 and 2013 at the Revue des deux mondes, owned by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière – 135,000 euros gross.

Friend of François Fillon, this businessman recognized, in a separate procedure, a partly fictitious job and he was convicted in 2018 for abuse of corporate assets.

The former Prime Minister is finally being prosecuted for having failed to declare a loan from Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière to the tune of 50,000 euros to the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) – he was released at first instance.

“Family jobs” since banned

On June 29, 2020, Penelope Fillon was sentenced to three years in prison, a fine of 375,000 euros and two years of ineligibility. Marc Joulaud received a three-year suspended prison sentence, a € 20,000 suspended fine and five years of ineligibility. Both also appealed.

The National Assembly, civil party, had obtained more than one million euros in damages.

The defense, which from the outset has criticized a “mad investigation” and “a charge”, also counts during this second trial “to debate” the statements of the former head of the national financial prosecutor’s office (PNF) Éliane Houlette in June 2020 , a few days before the delivery of the judgment – the lawyers had requested, in vain, a postponement of the decision.

The magistrate had then evoked in parliamentary commission hierarchical “pressures” in this file, which had revived in the Fillon camp the accusations of instrumentalization of justice.

The Head of State Emmanuel Macron had at the time seized the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) which has since concluded, in September 2020, that the justice functioned “independently” in this extraordinary case.

In September 2021, the press revealed that a second investigation targeting François Fillon had been opened in 2017, concerning the employment conditions of another parliamentary assistant, the writer Maël Renouard, between 2013 and 2015. This investigation is still ongoing In progress.

With AFP