Hubert Falco was sentenced by the Marseille Criminal Court to a three-year suspended prison sentence and five years of ineligibility. He was found guilty of concealment and embezzlement of public funds.
The trial of the mayor of Toulon (Var), Hubert Falco, ended this Friday, April 14. He is sentenced to three-year suspended prison sentence And five years of ineligibility immediately applicable. He thus loses his mandates as mayor and president of the Toulon Provence Méditerranée Metropolis.
The provisional execution of a penalty of ineligibility means that the penalty is immediately applicable, even in the event of an appeal on his part. According to the procedure, after a conviction for ineligibility accompanied by a provisional execution, the prefect of Var must issue an order signifying the termination of the mandates of the local elected official concerned.
The confiscation of a sum of 55,000 euros seized from his account was also pronounced.
For the president of the Marseille criminal court, Céline Ballerini, the “duty to set an example has been totally flouted” by the elected, ex-LR who joined the presidential camp, who left the court headlong and without a word.
In a joint press release published this Friday evening, the president of the Paca region Renaud Muselier and the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi wished “testify of all our friendship and all our esteem” To “our friend Hubert Falco“.
The 75-year-old man was accused of concealment of embezzlement of public funds. He would have used public money for his meals and to have his clothes washed for several years after leaving his post as president of the Var department (1994-2002).
According to a former head of the kitchens of the department, who then committed suicide, the evening and weekend meals of the elected official and his wife were always prepared by the staff, with ingredients purchased from the budget of the county council. These meals and ingredients were stored in a dedicated fridgehence the name of this folder: “Falco’s fridge”.
“I never denied that I had lunch in the cafeteria of the county council when I went up to work there”, explained at the bar Hubert Falco, heard on Wednesday. On the other hand, he strongly denied the accusations of meals prepared especially for him: “the survey proved that with my wife, we spent more than the national average on food! I like going to the shops, I like going to buy vegetables”, he defended himself.
In total, the cost of these private meals on the budget of the department would have amounted to at least €64,500 over the period covered, between 2015 and 2018. Or 1,500 euros per monthaccording to investigators.
This Friday morning, his lawyers asked for release after the prosecution’s requisitions. The prosecutor claimed on Thursday “to immediately end the elective mandates” of the mayor of Toulon. The prosecution had qualified this case as “real scandal”.
“I am hurt“to the prospect “that they immediately take away what my constituents have entrusted to me”, declared Hubert Falco after the requisitions of the prosecution. He has served as mayor and president of the Toulon metropolitan area for more than 20 years.
(With AFP)