A former Prime Minister of France and his British wife accused of stealing from taxpayers were today told that they would once have been hanged if found guilty.
The macabre observation was made in the Paris Correctional Court, where Francois and Penelope Fillon instead risk 10 years in prison.
Both are said to have set up fake jobs for Ms Fillon, a 64-year-old mother of five who was born in Wales, so they could steal up to £1million.
The macabre observation was made in the Paris Correctional Court, where Francois and Penelope Fillon instead risk 10 years in prison
‘Under the Ancient Regime, the offense of of embezzlement of public funds was punished with the death penalty by hanging,’ said prosecutor Aurélien Létocart.
Mr Létocart raised the point to illustrate how serious the alleged offences were, as the Fillons’ own lawyers tried to challenge the legitimacy of the trial.
The Ancient Regime is shorthand for the old monarchical France that existed before the 1790s Revolution.
Today was the first full afternoon of the trial, that opened and was then adjourned on Monday because of a lawyers’ strike.
Both are said to have set up fake jobs for Ms Fillon, a 64-year-old mother of five who was born in Wales, so they could steal up to £1million
Ms Fillon is accused of stealing cash by pretending to be the parliamentary assistant to her 65-year-old husband, despite never having set foot in the Paris parliament building, which is called the National Assembly.
Ms Fillon also had a fabricated and highly lucrative ‘job’ as ‘literary advisor’ to a magazine ran by a political ally of her husband, it is alleged.
The exposure of such scams led to Mr Fillon, a right-wing conservative who made much of his Catholicism and devotion to family values, losing the 2017 presidential election.
He had been the hot favourite to become head of state, with Mrs Fillon as his First Lady, but both were instead placed under investigation over a suspect fraud worth up to £1million.
Ms Fillon also had a fabricated and highly lucrative ‘job’ as ‘literary advisor’ to a magazine ran by a political ally of her husband, it is alleged
The couple are being tried for the embezzlement of public funds, fraud, theft and criminal complicity in the so-called Penelopegate scandal.
Most of the charges come with prison sentences of up to 10 years, and fines equivalent to some £1million.
Marc Jouland, the MP who did Mr Fillon’s constituency work when he served as Prime Minister for five years up until 2012, is also in the dock.
Mr Jouland, 52, is said to have renewed Mrs Fillon’s fake contracts and increased her salary for doing nothing.
A prosecutors’ report reads: ‘There is no evidence indicating the reality of Penelope Fillon’s work.’
The exposure of such scams led to Mr Fillon, a right-wing conservative who made much of his Catholicism and devotion to family values, losing the 2017 presidential election
French presidential election candidate for the right-wing Les Republicains (LR) party Francois Fillon (C) sits between president of the French Senate Gerard Larcher (L) and Marseille’s mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin during a campaign rally in Marseille in April 2017
All three defendants deny any wrongdoing and are set to contest all the evidence against them.
In her last public interview in 2017, Mrs Fillon said she was ‘so surprised by all the violence and hysteria that I just withdrew inside my Welsh shell.’
She is a solicitor’s daughter from Llanover, Wales, who went to King Henry VIII School in Abergavenny.
After studying modern Languages in London, and law at Bristol University, she married Mr Fillon, whom she had met while working as a teaching assistant in his home town of Le Mans.
The trial continues, and is due to end on March 11.