The public prosecutor’s office on Monday, November 29, requested five years of imprisonment, including a firm against François Fillon at the appeal trial of the former Prime Minister for suspicion of fictitious employment of his wife Penelope Fillon. Apart from this prison sentence, converted into house arrest with an electronic bracelet, the prosecution also asked for a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of ineligibility. Against Penelope Fillon, he was asked for two years of suspended prison, 100,000 euros fine and two years of ineligibility, and against his former deputy Marc Joulaud, three years of suspended prison and five years of ‘ineligibility.
The advocates general considered that the former head of government should be found guilty, asking that the sentence, the firm part of which would be served under an electronic bracelet, be accompanied by ten years of ineligibility. The public prosecutor considered that “fictitiousness” of Penelope Fillon’s job as parliamentary assistant was “established” and that François Fillon, “eminent figure in political life”, had been “on the initiative“of a “enterprise of embezzlement of public funds”.
According to the prosecution, Penelope Fillon, who has “fully adhered” to this “family enrichment system”, was paid “unduly” as parliamentary assistant to her husband and his deputy in Sarthe, during three contracts between 1998 and 2013, for a total remuneration of 612,000 euros net. His tasks were “redundant” with those of other collaborators and this job was marked by “confidentiality”, since it was known only to “first circle” of the couple, underlined the Advocate General, Bruno Revel.
“Ms. Fillon has never presented herself as the parliamentary collaborator of her husband and of Mr. Joulaud” : in the constituency, “everyone ignores it!” he continued, returning to each of the missions that the Franco-Galloise claimed to accomplish at the time. The “memos” in preparation for local events? “No trace of it was found”.
Proofreading speeches, welcoming residents at home, managing mail? So many tasks “intangible”. The “information feedback” from the field? An activity “evanescent, not to say vaporous”, insisted the magistrate. “Ms. Fillon was therefore not mistaken about the words when she said to the Sunday Telegraph not ‘to have been her husband’s assistant, or something like that’ “, released the Advocate General, referring to an interview with the defendant dating from 2007.
At first instance, the former tenant of Matignon was sentenced on June 29, 2020 to five years’ imprisonment, two of which were firm, a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of ineligibility. Penelope Fillon was given a three-year suspended prison sentence, a € 375,000 fine and two years of ineligibility and Marc Joulaud, a three-year suspended sentence, a € 20,000 suspended fine and 5 years of ineligibility.