The former deputy of Martinique Alfred Marie-Jeanne was sentenced Tuesday, April 5 in Paris to two months of suspended imprisonment and 10,000 euros fine for incomplete or false declaration of assets to the High Authority for the transparency of life public (HATVP).
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The criminal court also pronounced against the former deputy and former president of the territorial community of Martinique, now 85 years old, a sentence of ineligibility of two years.
But the judges did not attach this additional sentence to the provisional execution, which allows Alfred Marie-Jeanne to stand in the legislative elections in June, whether or not he appeals his conviction.
"
It's a half-hearted decision
," reacted the lawyer for the former MP, Me Alex Ursulet, who said he was considering an appeal.
An “unfortunate combination of circumstances”
The prosecution had requested on February 16 a three-month suspended prison sentence, as well as a fine of 10,000 euros and two years of ineligibility, with provisional execution, against Alfred Marie-Jeanne for the omission declaration of three bank accounts.
The HATVP, created in 2013 after the Cahuzac scandal, notably controls the assets and declarations of interest of nearly 15,000 public officials, ministers, elected officials and senior civil servants.
It can take legal action if it detects a fraudulent intention or a substantial omission.
In the case of Alfred Marie-Jeanne, the HATVP had considered that there was "
serious doubt as to the completeness
" of his declaration of financial situation at the end of his term of office, established in December 2016. The former deputy disputed the facts, pleading the "
unfortunate combination of circumstances
".
His statement, completed on the Internet by the daughter of Alfred Marie-Jeanne, was "
erroneous
" but without "
any intention to knowingly conceal information
" from the HATVP, his lawyers had argued at the hearing.
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The court recalled that the declaration obligation “
weighs personally
” on the MP.
He found that the offense was constituted “
both materially and intentionally
”.
In this case, the public prosecutor had first offered Alfred Marie-Jeanne a penalty of 2,500 euros as part of a criminal composition, in order to avoid a trial.
But this alternative procedure to prosecution, for offenses of low gravity, had been refused by the former deputy.
