A renowned lawyer from the Paris bar, Philippe Dehapiot, was sentenced in early April to three years in prison, including ten months suspended for tax fraud, with a ban on practice for three years, said a judicial source on Tuesday.
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Philippe Dehapiot notably defended his colleague and friend Thierry Herzog (historical lawyer of Nicolas Sarkozy), but also Bernard Tapie and Yvan Colonna.
He was also the lawyer of the Corsican businessman Michel Tomi, former close to Charles Pasqua, or the former boss of the national police Michel Gaudin.
The judgment specifies that the firm part of the prison sentence must be carried out at home with an electronic bracelet and it includes a provisional execution, which means that the sanctions apply immediately, even in the event of an appeal.
The Paris Criminal Court also imposed a fine of 200,000 euros on the 65-year-old lawyer, according to a judgment of April 2 consulted by AFP, and confirming information from Mediapart.
The fine will turn into a prison sentence if it is not paid.
The lawyer, absent from his trial in March, was sentenced for a "
complete failure under his reporting and accounting obligations
" between 2014 and 2018, for a total of 245,300 euros of rights evaded under VAT and 38,283 euros for income tax.
"
All the taxes I owed have been fully paid, so the sentence is extremely severe, that's why I'm appealing,
" responded to AFP Philippe Dehapiot, who was the subject parallel tax procedure.
In criminal proceedings, he had already been sentenced twice for tax evasion, in 2005 to three months suspended and in 2007 to 15 months suspended and 10,000 euros fine.
In its reasons, the court underlines the "
seriousness of the facts
" and the "
persistence in a criminal and lucrative behavior of a defendant held, by reason of his profession, of particular obligations of probity
".