The Paris Court of Appeal re-examines on Monday November 25 the sanctions imposed on former Prime Minister François Fillon, 70, definitively found guilty of embezzlement of public funds in the affair of fictitious jobs at the National Assembly. After a judgment at first instance and another on appeal, this is the third trial in this resounding case, which had stopped the right-wing candidate's leading race for the 2017 presidential election.
According to his lawyer Antonin Lévy, who did not wish to comment, François Fillon should be present at the hearing which begins at 1:30 p.m. The former head of government was found definitively guilty by the Court of Cassation in April, but it ordered a new hearing to reassess his prison sentences, fines and ineligibility. On appeal, on May 9, 2022, he was sentenced to four years of imprisonment, including one year, a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of ineligibility.
His wife Penelope Fillon, for her part, was sentenced to two years' suspended prison sentence as well as a fine of 375,000 euros and his ex-deputy Marc Joulaud was sentenced to three years' suspended prison sentence, with respective ineligibility periods of two and five years. The three defendants were also ordered to pay a total of approximately 800,000 euros in damages to the National Assembly.
The Court of Cassation confirmed these sentences against Penelope Fillon and Marc Joulaud. On the other hand, the high court, which controls compliance with the rules of law and not the merits of the cases, considered that the Paris Court of Appeal had not sufficiently justified the firm part of the sentence imposed on the former Prime Minister. Minister François Fillon.
Furthermore, the Court of Cassation ruled that the amount of 126,167 euros, awarded to the National Assembly in damages, had been incorrectly assessed, to the extent that the court of appeal had recognized that Penelope Fillon had everything even carried out certain tasks as a parliamentary assistant. Other damages are definitely owed by the Fillon couple.
According to statements from his lawyer to franceinfo, confirming information from BFMTV, François Fillon and the National Assembly are in the process of finalizing “payment schedule and terms” in the amount of 679,989 euros.
Justice could also have to rule in another case of suspicion of fictitious employment concerning the man who has now left politics: an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) is still underway regarding a contract of parliamentary assistant signed by François Fillon between 2013 and 2015.
The investigations consist of determining whether he could hire, with public funds, Maël Renouard, his “pen” when he was at Matignon, to write his program book for the presidential election, Fairepublished in September 2015.
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