The prosecution requested on Tuesday November 14 in Paris thirty months of suspended prison sentence, a fine of 70,000 euros and three years of suspended ineligibility against the three-time presidential candidate François Bayrou.
Against ten other centrist executives and elected officials, the prosecution demanded sentences ranging from eight to twenty months in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 euros, with penalties of ineligibility again with reprieve. Fines of 300,000 euros including 100,000 euros, and 500,000 euros including 200,000 euros were requested for the UDF and the MoDem respectively.
At the end of an indictment lasting nearly seven hours, the two prosecutors affirmed that François Bayrou had been the “main decision-maker” of a “system” of embezzlement of European funds for the benefit of centrist structures between 2005 and 2017.
“He is experienced in political life and its mechanisms and while he holds high the values of probity and exemplarity (…), he knows perfectly well to what extent the diversions that he orchestrates undermine the values that he promotes,” the prosecutor said.
Trial ends November 21
This “illicit modus operandi” aimed, according to the accusation, to divert a third of the envelopes of MEPs to finance contracts for parliamentary assistants who in reality worked for the parties. The facts “impose a clear criminal response”, because “such misappropriations have both symbolically and very concretely a strong impact on the transparency of public life and the balance of party financing”, launched the magistrate.
The judges nevertheless underlined that these embezzlements had given rise to “partisan enrichment” and not to “personal enrichment” and recalled that the investigating judges had ultimately retained eleven disputed jobs for a total damage of around 300,000 euros. .
A twenty-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros, as well as a year of suspended ineligibility, were requested against the former Minister of Justice Michel Mercier, for his role as treasurer of the party between 2005 and 2010. The defense will plead starting Wednesday. The trial is scheduled to conclude on November 21.