The entrepreneur and former CEO of the daily
Corse-Matin
Antony Perrino was released Thursday, October 21 after nearly nine months of pre-trial detention in a money laundering case linked to the Corsican criminal gang of Petit Bar.
The investigative chamber of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal (Bouches-du-Rhône) ordered his placement under judicial supervision, together with the payment of a deposit of 250,000 euros, to be paid in five monthly installments. .
Read alsoNarcotics trafficking invades Corsica
"
I answered all of the examining magistrate's questions, I assumed my responsibility, I recognized certain things,
" Antony Perrino said on Wednesday before the Court of Appeal. At the head of a Parisian company specializing in property development employing 70 employees and a heavyweight in property construction in Corsica, Antony Perrino, 42, was indicted in January for laundering tax fraud and drug trafficking, criminal association and abuse of corporate assets in a vast financial investigation targeting alleged members of the so-called “
Petit Bar
” organization and their relatives. Jacques Santoni, quadriplegic and presumed leader of the gang,was also released on medical grounds in early September after eight months in detention.
According to the daily
Le Monde
, these embezzlements involve a total of 48 million euros of offshore and real estate investments.
"
I lacked discernment in my friendship
"
Advocate General Yvon Calvet was opposed, Wednesday, to a release of Antony Perrino asking the court to "
keep him in detention until the risks of consultation (with other accused) have disappeared
”. The prosecution pointed to the very close ties between Antony Perrino and Mickaël Ettori, presumed very influential member of the Petit Bar, now on the run. "
This organization has considerable financial and human resources and the release of Antony Perrino seems largely premature
", had launched the Advocate General.
"To
consult with (Mickaël Ettori) who made the choice not to present himself, I would have to be interned because that would fall under psychiatry
", defended Antony Perrino, adding: "
I lacked discernment in my friendly relationship, I no longer feel the same man
». During the hearing, Me Julien Pinelli, his lawyer, had considered "
not admissible that the continued detention of Antony Perrino serves as an example or a warning in the name of a fight against porosity between the business world and that of delinquency
”in Corsica. Since his indictment, Antony Perrino has been questioned three times by the investigating judges on operations that the prosecution describes as laundering maneuvers of very large sums.
