The defense of Penelope and François Fillon had asked for an additional hearing, this Thursday, March 5 in the morning, before the Paris Criminal Court. She knew how to make good use of it. The lawyers of the former Prime Minister and his wife, prosecuted for embezzlement of public funds, complicity and concealment, had reserved a surprise: 34 certificates from elected officials or citizens ensuring the reality of the work done by the Welshwoman of origin with her husband when he was a deputy for Sarthe. Last minute testimonies that we no longer expected and whose late production made the representatives of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) creak.
"Of course, the evidence is free, admits Bruno Nataf, one of the two accomplices of the prosecution. But it is too easy, at the end of the journey, to produce these certificates. "You had the leaks, we, the strategy," replies Antonin Lévy, one of François Fillon's lawyers. "The word strategy is absolutely correct," mumbled the parquet floorer.
The late nature of these testimonies questions. The prosecution is surprised that the defense did not request an act during the investigation, as it had the opportunity. And stresses that these witnesses were therefore not heard by the police during the judicial investigation.
"Penelope embodied the presence of her husband in Sablé"
" It's obvious. We can clearly see that there has been a bias since the start of this investigation, replied François Fillon dryly, who has been singing his favorite verse there since the launch of the investigations. We only summoned the people who had witnesses to testify. It is a charge investigation, it will remain in the annals as the example of a judicial dysfunction. "Me Lévy wants for proof the little case made by the examining magistrates and the prosecution of the certificates they had delivered during the investigation:" When you pay to see and that the only thing you take is a saloon door… ”
These new testimonies here they are. As much as the examination of documents provided by the defense during the investigation had flopped on the previous Thursday, even turning against the defendants, these letters, more or less precise, are closer to the role that Penelope Fillon could have played with from her husband. Me Joris Monin de Flaugergues, the most offensive lawyer for François Fillon since the start of the trial, reads it almost exhaustively. There is, for example, this former secretary of an association in Sablé-sur-Sarthe (Sarthe) who claims "to have always dealt with Penelope Fillon to solicit François Fillon. There is this mayor of a neighboring municipality of Sarthe - the former family notary - who explains that he "frequently saw Penelope Fillon with her husband during demonstrations, or even, sometimes, alone".
Or even the former mayor of Sablé-sur-Sarthe, according to whom "better than any other, Penelope Fillon embodied the presence of her husband in Sablé, thanks to her proximity and her simplicity with the inhabitants". And the CEO of the company "Moules et outillages de Sablé", which recounts the support of the British when the CEO of a similar English company came. The rest is in keeping.
"People knew"
Each time, Penelope Fillon, finally more comfortable at the helm, confirms that these examples illustrate the materiality of her work as parliamentary assistant. The president, usually so interventionist, lets go. On one occasion, she was surprised that one of these witnesses was so well informed. "He could see that you were aware of your husband's agenda, but not necessarily that you organize it?" She wonders. Another time, she noted the favorable certificate from two citizens. "But if you acted discreetly, how could they know that you were intervening," asks the judge. "People knew," says the defendant.
The prosecution, too, remains behind. So as not to give weight to these last-minute pieces? Despite a testimony, Bruno Nataf nevertheless took the opportunity to develop once again his analysis of the social role of the wife of an elected official that Penelope Fillon fulfilled in his eyes, and not that of a paid parliamentary assistant. "We are in confusion: the social life, the professional life that we are touted and the political life of François Fillon," he analyzes. "Wanting to separate these actions for a politician is impossible," retorts François Fillon, annoyed. It is a total commitment that involves going beyond family and private life. "
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It remains to be seen what the court will do with these final exhibits. "You will appreciate the probative force of these certificates", had warned the PNF, not concealing his skepticism. "The court takes the file as it is and will draw the consequences based on what is in it or not," said its president. A sentence sufficiently cryptic to leave room for all interpretations.