The Modem has set up an "
old and more or less informal system
" of embezzling European funds to pay its employees, concludes the anti-corruption police in a report summarizing four years of investigations in which François Bayrou and several former MEPs are placed. under review since the end of 2019.
To read also: Return on the affair of the assistants of MoDem MEPs
“
I once again assert that these accusations are malicious and that these allegations are false.
And this will be proven,
”reacted on Wednesday, June 2 on Twitter the president of the centrist party when Le Monde published extracts from this report by the Central Office for the fight against corruption and financial and fiscal offenses (Oclciff) , charged with this case of suspicion of fictitious jobs of MEPs' assistants.
One year before the presidential election, the revelation of this 29-page summary, after almost 18 months of discreet pursuit of investigations since the mayor of Pau's indictment, sheds light on an embarrassing case for the MoDem, President Emmanuel's main ally Macron.
Read also: Regional: the Modem losing its influence
In its conclusions, dated April 14 and consulted by AFP, the Oclciff believes that "
to support his party and ensure its operation at a lower cost, François Bayrou and Marielle de Sarnez, supported by party officials, have put the service of the UDF, then of the MoDem, parliamentary assistants paid by the European Parliament
”.
An "old and more or less informal system"
The anti-corruption police describe "
an old and more or less informal system
" which "
was not based on a monolithic and systematic method
".
"
It evolved over time and took account of the opportunity of the situation while respecting a determined budget
".
The investigators explain that "
the hijacked parliamentary collaborators had a part-time employment contract with the party and another with the elected European, thus lulling the vigilance of the services of the European Parliament
". This method made "
very difficult any checks or verifications
" on the reality of the work of MEPs' assistants, since they exercised "
these duplication
" by being "
physically located in the premises of the UDF and the Modem
" in Paris.
The report assesses the loss of the European Parliament at 1.4 million euros.
However, it includes in this figure all (400,000 euros) of the remuneration of assistants who nevertheless partially worked for MEPs.
"Embezzlement of public funds", "complicity", "concealment"
In the end, the Oclciff suggests legal proceedings for “
embezzlement of public funds
” - an offense liable to result in a penalty of ineligibility - against nine former MEPs, including Sylvie Goulard, Nathalie Griesbeck, Jean-Luc Bennahmias and Robert Rochefort.
The police also believe it is possible to prosecute three party officials for "
complicity
" in this crime. They finally evoke possible prosecutions for "
concealment
" against the former assistants as well as against the Modem, its president, its ex-financial director and several other people. For the “
concealment
”, the police officers also retain the name of the current minister of relations with the Parliament and candidate for the regional elections, Marc Fesnau, under his former functions of secretary general of the Modem.
But the last word will fall to the investigating judges, who have already initiated proceedings by ordering the indictments, from November-December 2019, of around fifteen people - MEPs, executives or ex-party executives - most for “
Embezzlement of public funds
” or “
complicity
”.
Among them, François Bayrou, his right arm Marielle de Sarnez (died January 13) as well as the former Minister of Justice Michel Mercier.
Other targeted parties
This recent police summary, which completes the previous Oclciff reports of June and October 2018 which paved the way for the first indictments, is also addressed to the examining magistrate Noémie Nathan, who took over in 2020 the head of these investigations carried out with two other magistrates from the financial center of the Paris court.
The National Rally, targeted by a similar investigation for damage estimated at 6.8 million euros by the European Parliament, had also denounced the revelation in mid-May by the JDD of a recent summary report from Oclciff, whose conclusions have come to concretize a little more the threat of a lawsuit.
But neither of the two cases, hotly contested by the two parties, will be able to be judged before the presidential election.
A third judicial investigation on suspicion of hijacked jobs of European assistants is aimed at the same time at the leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Questioned by the Oclciff in October 2018, he is however not the subject of any prosecution at this stage.