Alain Griset resigns after his six-month suspended sentence – The HuffPost

Gonzalo Fuentes via Reuters

TRANSPARENCY – When entering the government, he forgot to declare part of his assets and his interests to the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP). The Minister for SMEs, Alain Griset, was sentenced this Wednesday, December 8 to six months suspended prison sentence and three years suspended ineligibility. A first for a minister in office.

The hearing took place at the Paris court in the absence of the minister who was represented by his lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve. The latter immediately announced that he would appeal the decision. During his trial, Alain Griset, 68, a former taxi craftsman from northern France, defended his probity by pleading “awkwardness” and rejecting all “dishonesty”.

The Minister is accused of having intentionally concealed from the HATVP the holding of a stock savings plan (PEA) of 171,000 euros and stakes in certain companies such as FDJ and Natixis. The justice system was also interested in 130,000 euros placed on his PEA and which belonged to the National Confederation of Crafts, Trades and Services (Cnams) of the North, an inter-professional organization that he had headed since 1991.

Resignation despite the appeal

Less than two hours after the announcement of this judgment, the minister announced his resignation. “Alain Griset thanks the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister for having appointed him as Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium Enterprises since July 2020. Since then, he has worked closely with the Prime Minister and his colleagues , to carry out the mission entrusted to him in the service of French artisans, traders and entrepreneurs whom he was keen to support throughout his professional life. His commitment was total during these 18 months ”, we can read in the press release published by Bercy.

The fall is brutal for this 68-year-old Northerner, a craftsman-taxi for more than 30 years, for whom the arrival at the Ministry of the Economy in July 2020 was a form of consecration. A ministry that this readily affable man already knew well, having often walked its corridors in his former life as a representative of the self-employed.

In the shadow of the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire for the most important decisions, the Minister of SMEs was often on the front line to discuss with representatives of sectors hit hard by the economic crisis linked to the Covid pandemic -19, such as traders or tourism and event professionals.

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