A two-year suspended prison sentence was requested on Friday against the former director of the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) of Aix-en-Provence, accused of having issued false diplomas in a case which had almost earned the school expulsion from the prestigious
“Sciences Po”
network .
The public prosecutor also requested a 20,000 euro fine against Christian Duval.
Against her former deputy, Stéphane Boudrandi, the prosecutor requested a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 5,000 euros.
The two men are being prosecuted in particular for
“fraudulent provision of an administrative document”
and
“fraud”
and the prosecutor criticized them in her indictment for having
“come to sell the reputation of the IEP”
, indicating that 765 students had been impacted.
The affair was revealed in 2014 by the investigative site Marsactu, leading to the resignation of Christian Duval.
Director of the IEP since 2006, he had multiplied, in return for funds returned to the establishment, partnerships with schools or organizations, in France and abroad.
“Sciences Po”
in
Mauritius or Armenia had thus emerged, before Christian Duval suddenly ended these very controversial contracts internally.
In France, training institutes, benefiting from
“agreements”
, offered their students a diploma, appearing to come from the IEP, while charging up to 8,000 euros for the courses.
Read alsoAix-en-Provence: the case of “phony diplomas” from Sciences Po before the court
Many malfunctions
Christian Duval
“lost his way from his role and his missions”
in a case which caused
“a real earthquake”
, said the prosecutor.
“The affair broke out due to the false diplomas, but the investigation which arose from it revealed an absolutely incredible number of dysfunctions
,” indicated Romain Kail, lawyer for the IEP, civil party.
He denounced
“a method of exercising power which has been totally misused”
.
During the trial before the Aix Criminal Court, board minutes considered to be false and irregularities in the award of a contract for the IEP website were notably mentioned.
Also in the file, a contractual job granted to the son of Christian Duval and the accession of his wife to the position of head of the financial department of the school, in a context of
"between oneself"
where the director
"put whomever he wanted, wherever he wanted
,” lamented the public prosecutor.
Penalties of 2,000 euros fine were requested against four administrative employees or former employees prosecuted for
“forgery”
or complicity.