The prosecution announced this Thursday, February 8, that it would appeal the acquittal of François Bayrou in the case of the MoDem parliamentary assistants. The head of the centrist party says he is confident.
The matter of the parliamentary assistants is not over. The prosecution announced that it would appeal the acquittal of François Bayrou this Thursday, February 8, three days after the first instance judgment. “The prosecution contests these acquittals, considers that the facts characterize the offenses charged and that the evidence of these offenses is gathered against all the defendants” is specified in the press release from the public prosecutor, Laure Beccuau.
The appeal therefore concerns François Bayrou, but also the two other people released, Stéphane Thérou and Pierre-Emmanuel Portheret, former MoDem executives. On Monday February 5, the courts announced the acquittal of the president of the centrist party “for the benefit of the doubt”. The president of the court had judged “very probable” the participation or at least the knowledge by François Bayrou of the facts of embezzlement, but had indicated that he had not had the proof reported.
While the acquittal allowed François Bayrou to see his political future become clearer after “a seven-year nightmare” and in the midst of a reshuffle, the appeal could once again obscure or slow down the ambitions of the politician who has just given up on joining the government. The boss of MoDem, however, assures that he is confident after the announcement of the prosecution to Midi-Libre: “I was cleared at first instance, it will be the same thing on appeal”.
At first instance, the mayor of Pau appeared at the Paris criminal court from October 16 to November 21, 2023 for “complicity in embezzlement of European public funds”, alongside ten other MoDem executives. The prosecution had requested a 30-month suspended prison sentence, a 70,000-euro fine and three years of suspended ineligibility.
