François Bayrou is acquitted in the affair of the MoDem European parliamentary assistants, “with the benefit of the doubt”

The Paris court ruled Monday morning on the fate of the centrist leader as well as that of ten centrist executives and elected officials.

The decision has been made. François Bayrou was relaxed “for the benefit of the doubt” in the case of the MoDem parliamentary assistants, Monday February 5, by the Paris criminal court. The president of the centrist party had appeared from October 16 to November 21 for complicity in embezzlement of European public funds, with ten party executives and centrist elected officials at his side. Considering that the triple presidential candidate, 72 years old, was guilty of acts involving “undermining the values ​​of probity and exemplarity that it promotes”the prosecution had requested against him 30 months of suspended imprisonment, a fine of 70,000 euros and three years of suspended ineligibility.

Two other defendants were also acquitted, while the eight others, including five former MEPs, including Anne Laperrouze and Jean-Luc Bennahmias, were sentenced to sentences ranging from 10 to 18 months in prison, fines from 10,000 to 50,000 euros and two years of suspended ineligibility. Among those referred to justice, was also the former Minister of Justice Michel Mercier, sentenced to 18 months in prison, a fine of 20,000 and two years of suspended ineligibility.

The UDF and the MoDem condemned

The UDF, for its part, was fined 150,000 euros, of which 100,000 euros was fixed, and the MoDem was fined 350,000 euros, 300,000 of which was fixed. Both political parties were prosecuted as legal entities.

These natural and legal persons were prosecuted for having participated, directly or indirectly, in a system “fraudulent”which consisted of paying parliamentary assistants of MEPs with funds from the European Parliament, provided for this purpose, when in reality, they worked for the benefit of the centrist party.

A decision with important political stakes

This decision was eagerly awaited because it involves serious political issues. François Bayrou pleads, behind the scenes, to be better represented within the government of Gabriel Attal, whose second wave of appointments is awaited. Furthermore, the MoDem is not the only French party targeted by similar accusations. La France insoumise (LFI) and the National Rally (RN) are also suspected of having employed European parliamentary assistants to carry out political activism, and not for missions linked to the European Parliament.

The president of the RN group in the National Assembly is referred to the Paris criminal court for suspicion of embezzlement amounting to 6.8 million euros, between 2009 and 2017. On the LFI side, a judicial investigation is underway but no one has been indicted since its opening at the end of 2018, according to AFP.