François Fillon proposed to pay 700,000 euros to the Assembly in the affair of his wife's fictitious jobs

François Fillon proposed to the National Assembly to pay him nearly 700,000 euros for the damage suffered in the affair of his wife's fictitious jobs, according to information from BFM-TV broadcast on Tuesday November 12 and including The World has obtained confirmation.

The former candidate of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in the 2017 presidential election was sentenced on appeal, on May 9, 2022, with his wife, Penelope, and his former deputy Jean-Marc Joulaud, to pay damages to the Assembly, plus 10,000 euros in legal costs.

A source at the National Assembly, who requested anonymity, confirmed to Monde that Penelope Fillon’s lawyer, “definitely ordered to pay 679,989.32 euros”proposed to make a corresponding payment to the Assembly, in ten annual installments.

According to this source, the quaestors of the Palais-Bourbon – deputies who are members of the office of the Assembly responsible for administrative and financial management – ​​who were in office before the dissolution have ” valid “ this agreement “subject to the provision of a deposit by December 31”, a point which “is the subject of negotiations between the lawyers of the two parties”.

“Embezzlement of public funds”

“Penelopegate,” as the affair was nicknamed, began with an article in Chained duck published in January 2017, according to which the wife of candidate Fillon for the Elysée had received remuneration as a parliamentary assistant to her husband and Mr. Joulaud, without there being, according to the satirical newspaper, any convincing evidence that effective work had indeed been carried out.

The article sparked an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office. At first instance, in June 2020, François Fillon was sentenced to five years in prison, two of which were closed for “embezzlement of public funds”, and his wife was sentenced to three years suspended for complicity or receiving stolen property. On appeal, Mr. Fillon was sentenced to four years in prison, one of which was suspended, and his wife was sentenced to two years suspended.

In April, the Court of Cassation confirmed the guilt of the three defendants. On the other hand, it overturned the sentences handed down against Mr. Fillon, considering that the firm part of his prison sentence was not properly justified, and that he did not necessarily have to pay the entire amount back to the Assembly. wages paid to his wife.

New trial to come

The Court of Cassation explained this in a press release, considering that “if the remuneration paid was manifestly disproportionate in relation to the work provided [par M^me Fillon]they were not devoid of any consideration”.

Consequently, the Court of Cassation referred the case to the Court of Appeal for questions relating to the nature of the sentences to be pronounced against Mr. Fillon and the amount of damages that he and his wife will have to pay to the 'Assembly.

Furthermore, the Fillon couple, who have always contested any fictitious employment and denounced incriminating proceedings, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights at the end of August in the hope of obtaining the annulment of his conviction.