INFO LE FIGARO
The Paris public prosecutor's office appealed on Thursday against the three acquittals handed down on Tuesday during the judgment in the so-called case of the MoDem European parliamentary assistants.
The criminal court notably acquitted the party president, François Bayrou, while condemning the MoDem (formerly UDF), which had been fined 400,000 euros as a legal entity.
The first instance judges had found that there was no proof of Mr. Bayrou's involvement in the embezzlement of public funds proven according to them, through which assistants of MEPs were in reality working for the centrist party.
The defendants, however, noted suspiciously:
“It follows from the above that it is very probable that [three of the defendants] who committed acts of complicity in the embezzlement of public funds for the sole benefit of the party, acted with the authorization from François Bayrou and at the very least by informing him of their actions.
But no proof of this authorization or this information is reported.
However, in application of article 427 of the code of criminal procedure, criminal offenses must be established by evidence, even assessed according to the judges' private conviction.
In the absence of any evidence, a criminal court cannot, without disregarding the principle of the presumption of innocence, deduce the guilt of an accused from a hypothesis, even if it is probable.
It follows from the above that François Bayrou will be [relaxed] with the benefit of the doubt
.
No date has yet been set for the appeal trial.