the essential
Christian Calméjane, former director of Emmaüs Tarn-et-Garonne, his deputy Hrachya Hayrapetyan and their wives appeared on Thursday November 14, 2024 before the criminal appeals chamber of the Toulouse court in the case of alleged embezzlement to the detriment of the association. The attorney general, who requested a reclassification of the facts as tax fraud laundering, requested a one-year suspended prison sentence for the two leaders and a six-month suspended prison sentence for their wives. The judgment was reserved until January 23, 2025.
Only eight months after their acquittal pronounced by the Montauban judicial court, four directors of Emmaüs Tarn-et-Garonne were retried on appeal, in Toulouse, to answer for embezzlement (of a sum of 57,000 euros) and money laundering aggravated to the detriment of the charitable association whose departmental headquarters is in La Ville-Dieu-du-Temple.
Defended by Messrs Amélie Piazzon, Jérémie Gloriès, Amélie Villageon and Isabelle Rossi, the defendants presented themselves on Thursday November 14, 2024 before the correctional appeals chamber in the same state of mind as during the first trial: to obtain from justice “a rehabilitation in their dignity and their values.
For this appeal trial, Emmaüs did not become a civil party, contrary to what it did in Montauban during the criminal hearing of November 28, 2023 which occupied the proceedings for more than 9 hours.
If I had wanted to hide any embezzlement, I would not have deposited this money in the bank.
This Thursday afternoon in Toulouse, Christian Calméjane held the same line of defense as a year ago, supported by an Excel table mentioning in court the origin of the liquid sums collected in 5 years, from 2018 to 2023, for a total of €83,500: financial assistance from his Finnish in-laws or donations from the many people he hosted, following tradition reception of the companions of Emmaus. The ex-director (Editor's note: Christian Calméjane was dismissed for incapacity in July 2024 after having suffered a burnout and has since started a professional reconversion with the aim of becoming a nurse) reiterated that he had “nothing to blame himself”, describing the habit transmitted within the peasant family from which he was born of “keeping cash savings at home”. “If I had wanted to hide any embezzlement, I would not have deposited this money in the bank,” underlines Christian Calméjane.
Hrachya Hayrapetyan also deposited large sums of cash into his account: almost €90,000 in 4 years. Same strategy for the deputy director who lists transactions relating to the sale and purchase of cars (this concerns 12 vehicles in 6 years), mentions rent paid to him by his father and the sale of a family house in Armenia… without forgetting the savings that he and his wife were able to make while they were still in an irregular situation thanks to the financial aid they received and the room and board that Emmaüs offered them.
“We are in two situations where we have a relationship with the extremely unusual species, which is striking,” recognizes the president of the court. It returns in detail to the investigation carried out following the complaint against X filed in July 2020 by Gérard Gineste, the president of Emmaüs 82 at the time.
The prosecution, through the voice of Lisa Bergereau, denounces the absence of income declaration to the tax authorities and requires a conviction for laundering tax fraud. She is demanding a 1 year suspended prison sentence (a quantum accompanied by a ban on exercising managerial functions for 5 years and ineligibility for the same period in an association) against the two directors of Emmaüs, prosecuted in another part of the case, relating to acts of concealed work concerning vulnerable people, in particular minors, and breach of trust which earned them an indictment on June 20, 2024. Six months of suspended prison sentences are required against their wives.
The Toulouse Correctional Appeals Chamber has reserved its judgment until January 23, 2025 at 2 p.m.
