The prosecution had requested against him 30 months of suspended imprisonment, a fine of 70,000 euros and three years of suspended ineligibility, for complicity, by instigation, in the embezzlement of European public funds.
The High Commissioner for Planning, close to the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, is suspected of having been the
“main decision-maker”
of a
“fraudulent system”
which consisted, between 2005 and 2017, of using European funds to pay parliamentary assistants who actually worked for centrist organizations in France.
At issue: 11 disputed contracts, for a total damage of 293,000 euros according to the European Parliament, civil party.
Accusations that François Bayrou has always strongly contested.
At the bar, he denounced judicial
“intoxication”
, refuting at length the existence of any
“system”
for the benefit of his party.