Franுவாois and Penelope Fillon in court for “Penelope Gate” appeal hearing

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Justice – Franசois Fillon returns to the helm. The former prime minister, his wife and his ex-wife have been ruled on appeal since Monday, November 15, in a case of suspicion about the imaginary work of Penelope Phillon, who weighed in on her husband’s contest for the Elysee Palace in 2017.

This is the second trial in which Matticknon’s former tenant, particularly for embezzling public funds, was sentenced to five years in prison and held after nearly a year and a half, two of which were closed, with a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of disqualification. . He immediately appealed.

All three defendants are expected to appear in Paris court at 1:30 p.m., the first day devoted to practical matters.

Amid the debate over the appointment in Les Républicains, the Court of Appeals is examining until November 30 a file similar to the spectacular political shipwreck that occurred during the last presidential election campaign.

“Imaginary or exaggerated” pay

Chain duck Released “Penelopecate” on January 24, 2017, which led to the launch of the investigation. These revelations followed one another, and the right-wing candidate, preferred in honesty and voting, was scrutinized six weeks before the first round.

Fran 67ois Fillon, now 67, should explain that his wife worked as a parliamentary assistant between 1998 and 2013, within the framework of the three agreements he signed and with Mark Zulod, who accompanied him to Sartre.

The lawsuit alleges that சேவைகள் 613,000 net (over one million euros) was “fictitious or exaggerated”, which assumes that Penelope Phillon’s activities came under the “social role” of a politician’s wife. An employee. Her husband has always said that Penelope Phillon’s work is certainly “brilliant”, often oral, but “essential.”

The couple is under investigation for hiring two children as parliamentary assistants to their father senator between 2005 and 2007 (total 100 100,000) and for Penelope Phillon’s lucrative contract as a “literary consultant” in 2012 and 2013. Property of Revue des deux mondes, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière – Total 135,000 Euros.

A friend of François Fillon, this businessman, in a separate practice, recognized somewhat imaginative work, and he was convicted in 2018 for misappropriating corporate assets.

François Fillon has finally been sued for failing to declare யூ 50,000 from Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière as a debt to the High Commission for Public Transparency (HATVP) – he was acquitted in the first instance.

“Family work” since banned

The role of this appeal hearing, François Fillon’s “innocent” and his wife’s “finally recognized”, was briefly told AFP by François Fillon’s lawyer Me Antonin Lévy.

In the first case, Penelope Fillon was sentenced to three years in prison, fined 37 375,000 and disqualified for two years. Marc Joulaud received a three-year suspended sentence, a 20,000 suspended sentence and five years of disqualification. Both appealed.

The 66-year-old Franco-Welsh’s “assistant” assured AFP attorney that “Marc Julod fit exactly what was needed to make the best use of François Fillon’s deputy order, while he used the minister’s responsibilities in Paris.” Mark Julod, m Jean Weil. The National Assembly, the civil party, has received more than a million euros in damages.

Defense, which has been critical of the “insane investigation” and the “indictment” from the outset, is counting on the statements of Elien Howlett, former chairman of the National Financial Attorney’s Office (PNF), in June 2020 for “discussion” during this second trial. A few days before the verdict – the lawyers vainly demanded that the decision be postponed.

The magistrate instigated hierarchical “pressures” on the parliamentary commission in this file, which again raised allegations of instrumentation of justice in the Fion camp.

At the time, the head of state, Emmanuel Macron, had taken over the High Council of Magistrates (CSM), which in September 2020 concluded that justice had acted “independently” in this extraordinary case.

In September 2021, between 2013 and 2015, the press revealed that a second inquiry into the working conditions of writer Maël Renouard, another parliamentary aide, had opened in 2017, targeting François Fillon. This investigation is still ongoing.

See also The Hoppost: The Phyllon couple appeal the “Penelope Gate” charge after their sentence