"We are in pain for you on this side of the bar." For an hour, Penelope Fillon has struggled to detail the missions that led to her being employed as a parliamentary assistant by her husband when the magistrate of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) made this admission. Rather than being annoyed by the evasive answers or the faint memories of the accused, the accusation plays on empathy. "We are in no way delighted to see you at the bar," said the second prosecutor a few minutes earlier. We sympathize because we know how difficult this exercise is. It was.
Between the surgical questions of the president and the spikes of the parquet floor, the wife of the former Prime Minister, prosecuted for complicity and concealment of embezzlement of public funds, spent an unpleasant afternoon this Thursday.
"I have always worked in retreat"
Hired from the first election of her husband in 1981, Penelope Fillon claims to have always held the same role: in essence, ensuring the link with the inhabitants of the district, managing the mail addressed to their home and writing small local press reviews. But if her husband will provide explanations for the absence of traces left by this work _ destroyed archives, flying notes, informal recommendations_ Penelope Fillon admits at the end of the hearing: “There is not much concrete evidence of this that I did ".
“I have always worked in retreat. I was not on the front of the stage, "she explains when the public prosecutor evokes the famous interview granted in 2007 to the Sunday Telegraph in which she explains that she was never her husband's assistant and appreciated" watching the world of work ". “You are a passive worker. It is quite surprising as a concept, "quips the PNF.
But the court goes into detail and lingers at length on the first specific missions which were entrusted to it between 1981 and 1985, even if their case is prescribed. Thus that on "the development of the Sabolian hedgerow" invoiced 30,000 francs or that on "the organization of the secretariat". "It was my husband who gave me the themes," replies the Welshwoman, who begins most of her answers with the same formula referring to her husband. The president is looking for specific examples of the work accomplished but it gets stuck.
A sententary François Fillon
The court is also surprised at the substantial but above all variable wages awarded to him for each contract. "I think my husband decided the amount based on the credit he had available," she says with her slightly British accent.
Asked in turn, François Fillon assumes: “Penelope's compensation, yes, it was an adjustment variable in relation to the available envelope. The remuneration of my employees is determined by me according to the rules of the National Assembly. I have no one to report to. ” The PNF choked but grabbed the ball. "Do you confirm that the remuneration was based on available credit and not on the task entrusted?" "" This question ignores the separation of powers. The parliamentarian is the sole master of tasks and remuneration, ”asserts the former Prime Minister, sententious.
"Madam, a first professional experience, it still marks!"
The court insists and keeps pressing where it hurts. During their first statements to the investigators after the revelation of the affair, neither Penelope Fillon nor her husband mentioned these first years of collaboration. "I forgot," admits the Welshwoman who invokes the pressure. “Madam, a first professional experience, a first salary, it still marks! Says the president.
"I hear the emotion even if it is hardly credible from my point of view," taunts the parquet. As for the absence of declarations of paid leave - a way of receiving comfortable end-of-mission bonuses - Penelope Fillon acknowledges “negligence”. "Looking back, I should have looked," she agrees. But I didn't take care of the administrative details of the contracts. He was my husband. The chorus is known.
"Defend his honor and that of his wife"
The collaboration between Penelope Fillon and her husband ceased during 2013. Because François Fillon had decided to devote himself to the presidential election, they say together. The PNF sees in it rather the imminence of the establishment of the high authority on the transparency of public life (HATVP) which forced the parliamentarians to reveal the names of their collaborators. "I have declared it to all the authorities since 2000," replies François Fillon. "Except that this one was public", advance the PNF which is surprised by this "chance of the calendar".
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At the very beginning of the hearing, François Fillon had solemnly indicated that he wished "to defend his honor and that of his wife" and "to prove the essential work of [his] wife in the service of [his] parliamentary mandates". The way is still long.
