Against ten other centrist executives and elected officials, the prosecution demanded sentences ranging from 8 to 20 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 euros, with penalties of ineligibility again with reprieve. The trial is scheduled to end on November 21.
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On Tuesday, November 14, the prosecution requested a 30-month suspended prison sentence, a 70,000-euro fine and three years of suspended ineligibility against three-time presidential candidate François Bayrou. The politician is accused of complicity in the embezzlement of public funds in the affair of the assistants of MEPs from the UDF and the MoDem.
Trial ends on November 21
Against ten other centrist executives and elected officials, the prosecution demanded sentences ranging from 8 to 20 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 euros, with penalties of ineligibility again with reprieve. Fines of 300,000 euros, including 100,000 euros, and 500,000 euros, including 200,000 euros, were requested for the UDF and the Modem respectively.
At the end of an indictment lasting nearly seven hours, the two prosecutors affirmed that François Bayrou had been the “primary decision maker” of a “system” of misappropriation of European funds for the benefit of centrist structures between 2005 and 2017.
“He is experienced in political life and its mechanisms and while he holds high the values of probity and exemplarity (…) he knows perfectly well to what extent the diversions he orchestrates undermine the values that he he promotes”, declared the prosecutor. The defense will plead from Wednesday. The trial is scheduled to end on November 21.