Dating back almost 20 years, the facts which were alleged concern the construction of around a hundred homes for firefighters and the maritime gendarmerie in Finistère and Gironde.
The Brest Criminal Court issued a general acquittal on Thursday in favor of two former civil servants of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and a real estate developer, tried for corruption in a military housing construction operation. The magistrates considered that most of the facts were prescribed in this case dating back almost 20 years (January 2005 to September 2009).
“This is a courageous decision by the court”greeted Me Benjamin Bellec-Pennec, whose client Michel R. had acknowledged at the hearing having obtained “counterparts”after having “favored” the developer. The public prosecutor had requested suspended prison sentences of 18 to 24 months, accompanied by fines ranging from 62,000 to 146,000 euros against the defendants. “This is not an ordinary case (…) They were public service agents paid with our taxes: their mission was to serve, not to serve themselves”rebuked the representative of the prosecution, Gabriel Rollin, in his indictment on Thursday.
Now, these two officials “have served themselves: they have used their positions to serve their personal interests”added the magistrate. Prosecuted for passive corruption, the two officials, Michel V., 62, and Michel R., 70, succeeded each other at the head of the Joint Regional Office of Military Housing (Brilom) in Brest, at the beginning of the 2000s.
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Multiple defects
The facts they were accused of related to the construction of around a hundred homes for firefighters and the maritime gendarmerie, in Crozon, Plouzané (Finistère) and Lège-Cap Ferret (Gironde). On three occasions, Brilom had then called on Alain H., 64, a Brest developer specializing in real estate tax exemption programs. The latter built the homes corresponding to the needs of the French Navy and then sold them to investors who committed, by a specific clause, to rent them to the military for 20 years.
Presenting multiple defects, poorly maintained, many military housing units found themselves vacant shortly after their construction, without the Navy terminating the leases immediately. These real estate programs were also awarded without competition or with “a sham competition”a real «jackpot» for the developer, the prosecutor stressed. In exchange, the officials acquired apartments from Alain H., with discounts of 36,000 to 42,000 euros, he pointed out, a point strongly contested by the defense.
Michel R. had nevertheless admitted at the bar to having obtained, thanks to the developer, a discount of 10,000 euros on the construction of a house in Plouguerneau, on the north coast of Finistère. Me Camille Bellein, lawyer for the State’s judicial agent, denounced the “discredit cast on the entire civil service” due to the behavior of the defendants. The defense lawyers argued for the general or partial acquittal of their clients. Mr. Bruno Lamballe, lawyer for Michel V., raised the issue of prescription but also the “excessive delay” of the procedure, contrary, according to him, to the requirements of the European Court of Human Rights.
