François Fillon proposed to the National Assembly to pay him nearly 700,000 euros for the damages suffered in the matter of his wife’s fictitious jobs, according to information from BFM-TV broadcast on Tuesday, November 12 and which includes the world has obtained confirmation.
The former candidate of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in the 2017 presidential elections was sentenced on appeal, on May 9, 2022, together with his wife, Penelope, and his former deputy Jean-Marc Joulaud, to pay a compensation to the Assembly. , plus 10,000 euros in legal costs.
A source from the National Assembly, who requested anonymity, confirmed to World that Penelope Fillon’s lawyer, “Definitely sentenced to pay 679,989.32 euros”He proposed making the corresponding payment to the Assembly, in ten annual installments.
According to this source, the quaestors of the Bourbon Palace – deputies who are members of the Assembly office in charge of administrative and financial management – who were in office before the dissolution ” valid “ this agreement “subject to the provision of a deposit before December 31”, a point that “It is the subject of negotiations between the lawyers of the two parties.”
“Embezzlement of public funds”
“Penelopegate,” as the affair was dubbed, began with an article in chained duck published in January 2017, according to which the wife of candidate Fillon for the Elysée had received remuneration as a parliamentary assistant to her husband and Mr. Joulaud, without there being, according to the satirical newspaper, convincing evidence that any work had been carried out effective. carried out.
The article sparked an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. In the first instance, in June 2020, François Fillon was sentenced to five years in prison, two of which were closed for “embezzlement of public funds”, and his wife was sentenced to three years of suspension for complicity or receipt of stolen goods. . On appeal, Mr. Fillon was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, one of which was suspended, and his wife was sentenced to two years’ suspended imprisonment.
In April, the Court of Cassation confirmed the guilt of the three accused. On the other hand, it annulled the sentences handed down against Mr. Fillon, considering that the final part of his prison sentence was not duly justified and that he did not necessarily have to return all the salaries paid to the Assembly. his wife.
New trial to come
The Court of Cassation explained it in a press release, considering that “if the remuneration paid was manifestly disproportionate in relation to the work performed [par Mme Fillon]“They were not exempt from any consideration.”.
Consequently, the Court of Cassation referred the case to the Court of Appeal for questions relating to the nature of the sentences to be handed down against Mr. Fillon and the amount of compensation that he and his wife will have to pay to the Assembly.
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Furthermore, the Fillon couple, who have always denied any fictitious employment and denounced incriminating processes, appealed at the end of August to the European Court of Human Rights in the hope of obtaining the annulment of their conviction.
