2024-04-24 14:55:19
Seven years after its explosion, the “Penelope Gate” is not over. This Wednesday afternoon, in a highly anticipated judgment, the Court of Cassation recognized the guilt of former minister François Fillon and his wife but ordered a new trial to redetermine the sentence and damages awarded to the against the former 2017 presidential candidate.
“The Court of Cassation confirms the decision of the Court of Appeal in that it recognizes the guilt of a deputy, his wife and his deputy (…) on the other hand, it overturns the decision of the Court of Appeal relating to the sentences imposed on the deputy and the damages to be paid,” specifies the decision.
⚖[Communiqué] The guilt of a deputy, his wife & his deputy in particular for embezzlement of public funds & complicity is confirmed. The sentences handed down against the deputy and the amount of damages to be paid will have to be retried. pic.twitter.com/oxPfdyAGsF
— Court of Cassation (@Courdecassation) April 24, 2024
On May 9, 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal sentenced the former tenant of Matignon to four years of imprisonment, including one year, a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of ineligibility. The conviction of Penelope Fillon (two years suspended prison sentence and 375,000 euros fine) and that of Marc Joulaud (three years suspended prison sentence) were confirmed by the Court of Cassation.
Revealed in Le Canard Enchaîné
The affair was first revealed by Le Canard Enchaîné, in the middle of the 2017 presidential campaign and while François Fillon, big winner of the LR primary, was presented as a clear favorite in the polls.
VIDEO. Fictitious jobs: François Fillon sentenced to 2 years in prison
The investigation then revealed that François Fillon had hired his wife Penelope between 1998 and 2013, in exchange for a total remuneration of 613,000 euros net, “fictitious or overvalued” according to the prosecution, for whom the activities of Penelope Fillon in his Sarthe mansion only recounted the “social role” of a “politician’s spouse”, and even then, particularly known for her discretion.
The former minister was also criticized for employing two of his children as parliamentary assistants when he was a senator. Penelope Fillon was also judged for a contract as “literary advisor” in 2012 and 2013 at the Revue des deux mondes, owned by billionaire Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière. Friend of François Fillon, the latter had admitted, in a separate procedure, a partly fictitious job and he was convicted in 2018 for misuse of corporate assets.
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