UDF/MoDem trial: prison and suspended ineligibility requested against François Bayrou

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP 21:47 p.m., November 14, 2023

The public prosecutor's office in Paris on Tuesday asked for a 30-month suspended prison sentence, a fine of 70,000 euros and a three-year suspended ineligibility against François Bayrou for complicity in the embezzlement of public funds in the case of assistants to UDF and MoDem MEPs. Against ten other centrist executives and elected officials, the prosecution demanded suspended sentences ranging from 8 to 20 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 euros, with suspended ineligibility sentences. Fines of €300,000, of which €100,000 are suspended, and €500,000, of which €200,000 are suspended, have been requested for the UDF and the Modem respectively.

The "Lead Decision-Maker"

At the end of an indictment lasting nearly seven hours, the two prosecutors claimed 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 well versed 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 embezzlement he orchestrates undermines the values he promotes," the prosecutor said. According to the prosecution, this "illicit modus operandi" was aimed at embezzling a third of MEPs' envelopes to finance contracts for parliamentary assistants who were in fact working for the parties.

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The facts "require a clear criminal response" because "such embezzlement has both symbolically and very concretely a strong impact on the transparency of public life and the balance of party financing," the magistrate said. They nevertheless stressed that they had given rise to "partisan enrichment" and not to "personal enrichment" and recalled that the investigating judges had ultimately retained 11 disputed jobs for a total loss of approximately 300,000 euros.

A 20-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 20,000 euros, as well as a one-year suspended disqualification, were requested against former Minister of Justice Michel Mercier, for his role as treasurer of the party between 2005 and 2010. The defense will argue its case starting Wednesday. The trial is scheduled to conclude on 21 November.