A strong man from the Var for 30 years, Hubert Falco could be stripped of all his mandates, as the prosecution demanded on Thursday against the mayor of Toulon in the “Falco fridge” case.
Prosecuted before the Marseille Criminal Court for concealment of embezzlement of public funds, his head bowed, often between his two hands, Hubert Falco, 75, collected the indictment for two hours. To end up dejected, in tears, when the prosecutor demanded a three-year suspended prison sentence, the confiscation of 55,000 euros seized from his account, and above all a five-year ineligibility, with provisional execution, that is to say say of immediate effect.
Justice accuses him of having continued to have lunch in the cafeteria of the Departmental Council of the Var, when he was no longer president, and of having taken advantage of meals at home and laundry costs, also paid by the community.
These meals were stored in a dedicated refrigerator, hence the name of this folder: “Falco’s fridge”.
Without false “suspense”, the public prosecutor Mathieu Vernaudon had warned from the start of his speech: “I will ask you to immediately put an end to the elective mandates which weigh on the head of Hubert Falco”.
Mayor of Toulon for more than 20 years, Hubert Falco, ex-LR now rallied to President Emmanuel Macron, had led the Var department from 1994 to 2002. And he has chaired the metropolis of Toulon since its creation in 2002.
Speaking of “real scandal”, the prosecutor recalled that five people “from the kitchen testified to the reality of the facts”.
Not to mention the emails found within the Departmental Council, where it is a question of “dinner meal” and “evening productions” for “HF”, or “Hubert Falco, permanent guest of Mr. President” Marc Giraud. At the head of the community at the time of the events, he is being prosecuted on his side for embezzlement of public funds.
Against Marc Giraud, the prosecution demanded a two-year suspended prison sentence and five years of ineligibility, considering that he should not be “sentenced as severely” as Hubert Falco, “the final beneficiary, the one who decides” and considered the county council as “his house, his stronghold”.
Marc Giraud, sentenced to five years of ineligibility for fictitious employment in another case of embezzlement of public funds (which he appealed), had to give up his post at the head of Var in October.
“I have never denied that I had lunch in the cafeteria of the county council when I went up to work there”, explained Hubert Falco on Wednesday.
On the other hand, he strongly denied the accusations of meals prepared especially for him. “The investigation proved that with my wife, we spent more than the national average on food! I like going to the stores, I like going to buy vegetables”, he defended himself, speaking of “a real demolition company” which would have targeted him before the municipal elections of 2020.
In total, the cost of these private meals would have amounted to at least 64,500 euros between 2015 and 2018, the period in question. Or 1,500 euros per month, according to investigators.
“We are not on a embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of euros, but a embezzled euro is a euro that does not go to the public interest”, supported the prosecutor.
During the trial, 20 witnesses cited by the mayor of Toulon marched to ensure his “probity”: “a man who respects the rules”, for one of his former director general of services, who has always had a “life of asceticism” according to another.
For the lawyer for the anti-corruption association Anticor, a civil party, “the question is not whether his political career is exemplary” acknowledging his political record: but “with an exemplary career, an exemplary attitude”, has pleaded Me Alain-David Pothet.
The lawyer for the mayor of Toulon did not wish to react Thursday, preferring to speak during his argument on Friday morning. Marc Giraud’s lawyer, Me Jean-Claude Guidicelli, on the other hand denounced “stunning requisitions”.
Hubert Falco’s political future is now suspended for judgment, expected a priori on Friday.
13/04/2023 18:58:40 – Marseille (AFP) © 2023 AFP
