Former French Conservative Prime Minister François Fillon has been sentenced this Monday, by the Paris appeal court, to four years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros for the fictitious jobs, as an assistant, that his wife, Penelope, had thanks to the husband’s charges. The sentence includes one year in prison for the former head of government.
The judicial decision is relevant for its exemplary role against corruption and for the relevance of the condemned man, who aspired to the presidency of the Republic in 2017 but saw how the scandal broke out and ruined his great chances of victory at that time. In addition to the prison sentence and the fine, Fillon is disqualified from holding public office for ten years.
Penelope Fillon has been sentenced to two years in prison and a 375,000 euro fine, in addition to a two-year disqualification. Her substitute, Marc Joulaud, has received a three-year suspended prison sentence and five years of disqualification. The three convicted must also pay 800,000 euros to the National Assembly to compensate it for the damage caused. None of the three was present at the reading of the sentence.
Convicted persons have the possibility of appealing to the (Supreme) Court of Cassation. If there is no appeal, Fillon’s sentence could be served, if the competent judge decides, under house arrest wearing an electronic bracelet to verify that he does not flee.
In addition to his problems with the law, Fillon has been in the news lately for the positions he held, as a counselor, in large Russian companies. Following the invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, the former prime minister was forced to resign from these jobs because they were ethically untenable.
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