Seven years after the explosion, Penelope’s Gate is still not finished. On Wednesday afternoon, in a long-awaited ruling, the Court of Cassation found former minister Francois Fillon and his wife guilty but ordered a new trial to review the sentence and damages awarded to the former 2017 presidential candidate.
“The Court of Cassation confirms the decision of the Court of Appeal in that it recognizes the guilt of the deputy, his wife and his deputy (…), on the other hand, it overturns the decision of the Court of Appeal regarding the penalties imposed on the deputy and compensation for damages,” the decision clarifies.
On May 9, 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal sentenced former tenant Matignon to four years in prison, including one year, a fine of 375 thousand euros and ten years of disqualification. The Court of Cassation confirmed the sentences of Penelope Fillon (two years suspended prison sentence and a fine of 375,000 euros) and Marc Joulot (three years suspended prison sentence).
Revealed in Le Canard Enchaîné
The affair was first reported by Le Canard Enchaîné midway through the 2017 presidential campaign, and François Fillon, the big winner of the LR primary, was presented in the polls as the clear favorite.
The investigation then revealed that François Fillon hired his wife Penelope between 1998 and 2013 in exchange for a total remuneration of €613,000 net, “fictitious or inflated”, according to the prosecution, for which Penelope Fillon’s activities at his mansion in Sarthe was just talking about the “social role” of the “politician’s wife,” and even then she was especially known for her discretion.
The former minister was also criticized for hiring two of his children as parliamentary aides while he was a senator. Penelope Fillon was also convicted of contracting as a “literary consultant” in 2012 and 2013 for the Revue des deux mondes magazine, owned by billionaire Marc Ladre de Lacharrière. A friend of François Fillon, the latter admitted in a separate proceeding that the work was partly fictitious and was convicted in 2018 of misuse of corporate assets.
Source: Le Parisien
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