Prosecuted for embezzlement of public funds and illegal taking of interest, in two separate cases, the former socialist deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône Henri Jibrayel, 71, was sentenced on appeal Tuesday to a total of five years in prison including two years firm. This sentence can be served at home under an electronic bracelet.
The judges of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence have aggravated the sentences pronounced in 2020 and 2021 by the Criminal Court of Marseille. He will also have to pay two fines totalling 40,000 euros. As in the first instance, the former elected representative, now retired from political life, was sentenced in both cases to a five-year ineligibility sentence.
"Demonstrating my honesty"
At the end of the hearing, the former deputy of the northern districts of Marseille announced his intention to appeal in cassation against the two judgments, to "demonstrate (s)on honesty": "The presidents of the criminal court of Marseille and the court of appeal of Aix-en-Provence declared that there was no personal enrichment " insisted the former MP. In the case of embezzlement of public funds, Henri Jibrayel was sentenced to two years in prison including nine months - instead of one year including six months firm at first instance - for having played at the casino with funds paid by the National Assembly. The former MP (2007-2017) had admitted an addiction to gambling before being banned from casino at his request. He will have to pay 18,500 euros in damages to the National Assembly.
See alsoMarianne Fund: the executive put under pressure by the opposition
In a previous case, concerning the organization of mini-cruises for the elderly of his constituency and for electoral purposes, Henri Jibrayel was sentenced, for breach of trust and illegal taking of interest, to three years in prison including fifteen months firm, instead of thirty months of which ten firm at first instance. On the other hand, the appeal judges confirmed the amount of damages, i.e. 51,500 euros, that Henri Jibrayel will have to pay to the departmental council of Bouches-du-Rhône of which he was elected.
Anxious, according to the judges, to regain his mandate in the National Assembly, Henri Jibrayel had used three associations of the northern districts over which he had control (two were chaired by his parliamentary assistant and substitute, the other by a relative) to settle the amount of these two sea trips organized in May 2011 and June 2012 for some 1200 elderly people. These three associations were subsidized by the departmental council.