In the case of Mutuals of Brittany, the judicial soap opera knows a new start.
The investigative chamber of the Douai Court of Appeal upheld the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand on Wednesday, considering that public action was time-barred.
The chamber considers that in this case having earned the deputy (LREM) of Finistère his indictment for illegal taking of interest, the limitation period took effect no later than 2012, a decision which could pave the way for the end of the proceedings. lawsuits.
In this case revealed by Le Canard enchaîné in 2017, Richard Ferrand was suspected of having chosen to rent the premises of his partner to set up a health center for Mutuelles de Bretagne, of which he was then the boss.
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The lawyer of the anti-corruption association Anticor, at the origin of the complaint, Me Jérôme Karsenti, however plans to appeal in cassation after "this extremely surprising decision".
The appeal period is five days, at the end of which the general prosecutor's office, which the chamber has not followed, may also if it wishes to appeal to the Court of Cassation.
The disputed rental of the premises dates back to 2011
The chamber had been seized since March 2020 of a double request from Richard Ferrand, examined during a hearing on January 20, 2021, after his indictment in Lille in September 2019.
The defense of the President of the Assembly first requested the nullity of the procedure on the grounds that the Paris judicial court, seized of a complaint with constitution of civil party by the Anticor association after the classification without follow-up of a first investigation by the Brest prosecutor's office in October 2017, was not territorially competent to deal with it.
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Richard Ferrand's lawyers also demanded to note the prescription of the public action, because the disputed real estate transaction - the rental by Mutuelles de Bretagne, which he managed, of commercial premises belonging to his partner - had taken place in 2011. .
Three-year statute of limitations for illegal acquisition of interest
In matters of illegal acquisition of interest, the limitation period is three years.
Anticor had, however, pleaded a "hidden offense", starting the limitation period on the date of the revelation of the case in 2017 by the Chained Duck and not, as argued by the defense of Richard Ferrand, when it ceased his functions in the company in 2012 before becoming a Member of Parliament.
But in these judgments on Wednesday, the investigating chamber “granted the request to see the limitation period for public action for the offense of illegal taking of interest, committed in Brest from December 1, 2010 to December 18, 2010. June 2012 ".
On the other hand, it "rejected the request for the purposes of finding of incompetence" of the court of Paris.
The investigation of the case is currently being conducted by three judges from Lille, as part of a judicial investigation opened in Paris following Anticor's complaint and then disoriented in Lille in July 2018 because a magistrate, vice-president of 'Anticor, was provisionally present in the proceedings.
"Since the beginning in this case, I have always considered unfounded the accusations brought against Mr. Ferrand, wrongly pursued by the sole will of an association trying to revive a procedure condemned from the beginning", said congratulated his lawyer, Me Paul-Albert Iweins.