François Bayrou has not finished with justice. The Paris prosecutor’s office announced this Thursday, February 8, that it was appealing against the acquittals, in particular with regard to the president of the MoDem, pronounced Monday by the Paris criminal court in the case of the European parliamentary assistants of the MoDem.
“The prosecution contests these acquittals, considers that the facts characterize the offenses charged and that the evidence of these offenses is gathered against all the defendants,” indicated the prosecution in a press release signed by the public prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
The appeal from the prosecution comes the day after the decision of the head of the MoDem not to join the government of Gabriel Attal due to the “drift” of the executive towards a “managerial technocracy”.
Prosecuted for complicity in embezzlement of public funds to the detriment of the European Parliament, François Bayrou was acquitted “with the benefit of the doubt”. During the trial, the prosecution had requested a 30-month suspended prison sentence, a 70,000 euro fine and 3 years of ineligibility also accompanied by a suspended sentence against the High Commissioner for Planning.
Misappropriation of public funds
Of the 11 individuals who were tried by the Paris Criminal Court, three, including François Bayrou, were acquitted. It is against these three people that the prosecution appealed. The court was harsh towards the eight other defendants, often going beyond the prosecution’s requisitions. The five former MEPs prosecuted, including Jean-Luc Bennahmias, were all found guilty of embezzlement of public funds and sentenced to suspended prison sentences of 10 to 18 months and fines of 10,000 to 50,000 euros. They were also sentenced to two years of suspended ineligibility.
Former Minister of Justice Michel Mercier, 76, former treasurer of François Bayrou’s party, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, a fine of 20,000 euros and two years of suspended ineligibility. for complicity in embezzlement of public funds. The UDF was fined 150,000 euros, including 100,000 euros, and the MoDem was fined 350,000 euros, 300,000 euros. According to the courts, there was indeed misappropriation of public funds in this case, with parliamentary assistants having been paid from European Parliament funds to carry out tasks for the benefit of the centrist party.