The alleged instigators of a vast driver license scam, which celebrities had benefited from - journalist Ali Baddou, footballers Jérémy Menez and Lyvin Kurzawa ... - will be fixed on their fate this Wednesday, July 8. Sentences ranging from one year suspended sentence to five years in prison, including two years suspended sentence were requested last June 19 by the Nanterre prosecution against six defendants, including the husband of singer Amel Bent.
Read also: Stars and footballers involved in driver's license trafficking
Defendants appeared before the Nanterre criminal court for "corruption", "fraudulent modification of a data system" or "fraudulent obtaining of administrative document", in this case which revealed the issue of 258 fraudulent permits between 2013 and 2015. Pink paper was generally minted at 8,000 euros and the prosecution encrypted the scam " at a total amount of 400,000 euros ", " at least ".
Read also: Fraudulent driving license: six people tried from this Wednesday in Nanterre
"Lives at risk"
Among those tried, two are suspected of being at the heart of the system: Patrick Antonelli, former manager of two driving schools in Hauts-de-Seine, also a companion of singer Amel Bent, and Rabiah Benrais, a prefecture official at the time of the facts. For these two defendants, prosecutor Paul Surbled requested five years in prison with a warrant, two of which were suspended. He also asked for a fine of 150,000 euros.
Rabiah Benrais, " by his behavior, dishonored the trust that the state and his fellow citizens had placed in it ," added Paul Surbled, stressing " lives put at risk " by the issuance of fraudulent driver's licenses. " It is a sentence of elimination, " responded Mr. Fabien Arakelian, counsel for Rabiah Benrais, during his oral argument.
" Certain judicial brutality ", said David-Olivier Kaminski, one of Patrick Antonelli's advisers, on the subject of requisitions from prison for his client, believing that the latter had " turned the page »Of fraud from his hearings.
Civil servants suspended
Against the two former officials of the Hauts-de-Seine prefecture suspected of having perpetuated the system after the departure of Rabiah Benrais in April 2014, the prosecutor asked for four years in prison with a warrant, two of which with probationary stay and 30,000 euros fine. A request for a permanent ban on practicing in the public service was also requested against the two former civil servants, who have been suspended since the revelation of the facts.
The prosecutor also claimed against a man, designated as the intermediary for the Asian community - one of the channels for selling fraudulent permits -, two years in prison, one of which was suspended, and one fine of 25,000 euros. Finally, he requested against the last defendant, suspected of having been the matchmaker of the two main defendants, a sentence of one year suspended prison sentence and 15,000 euros fine.
