Macron seeks review of fraud case against ex-rival Fillon

President Emmanuel Macron has called for a probe into claims that prosecutors were pressured to move fast in a fraud inquiry against Francois Fillon, a former prime minister and his main rightwing rival in France's 2017 presidential race.

Published: 20 June 2020 10:31 CEST

Macron seeks review of fraud case against ex-rival Fillon

Francois Fillon. Photo: AFP

Fillon lost what many considered a certain victory after a newspaper report claimed that he orchestrated a fake parliamentary assistant job for his wife that saw her paid hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) in public funds.

A ruling will be handed down on June 29 after a trial in which Fillon vigorously denied the claims, saying he was the victim of a political hit job.

The scandal flared anew this week after it emerged that the former head of France's Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) told lawmakers she had sustained “pressure” and “very strict oversight” aimed at bringing charges quickly against Fillon.

Fillon's supporters seized on the comments as proof that the prosecutor's superiors, possibly acting at the behest of justice ministry officials, had infringed upon the judiciary's independence to speed his downfall.

He was charged six weeks after the fraud claims emerged in the Canard Enchaine newspaper, an unusually swift move in a country where legal inquiries can take months or years.

The top Paris public prosecutor denied exercising any undue pressure, and on Friday the former financial prosecutor, Eliane Houlette, tried to walk back her statements, saying she “regretted” that they had been “distorted or misunderstood.”

But the uproar prompted Macron's office to say late Friday that the president had asked France's judicial watchdog, the Supreme Judiciary Council, to investigate the claims.

“These statements, which have provoked a significant outcry, have been interpreted as showing that pressure could have been put on the judiciary during a critical moment in our democratic process,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

“It is therefore essential to remove all doubt on the independence and impartiality of the justice system in this matter,” it said.

Prosecutors have asked the Paris court to give Fillon, 66, a five-year sentence, with three years suspended, as well as a three-year suspended jail term for his Welsh-born wife Penelope.

They accuse Fillon of paying his wife 613,000 euros net ($700,000) in public money over 15 years for a fictitious job, saying the couple produced no solid proof she ever carried out any significant work.

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“I don’t believe in the model… which would involve finding third countries on the African continent or elsewhere where we’d send people who arrive on our soil illegally, who don’t come from these countries,” Macron said.

“We’re creating a geopolitics of cynicism which betrays our values and will build new dependencies, and which will prove completely ineffective,” he added in a wide-ranging speech on the future of the European Union at Paris’ Sorbonne University.

British MPs on Tuesday passed a law providing for undocumented asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed and where they would stay if the claims succeed.

The law is a flagship policy for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, which badly lags the opposition Labour party in the polls with an election expected within months.

Britain pays Paris to support policing of France’s northern coast, aimed at preventing migrants from setting off for perilous crossings in small boats.

Five people, including one child, were killed in an attempted crossing Tuesday, bringing the toll on the route so far this year to 15 – already higher than the 12 deaths in 2023.

But Macron had warm words for London when he praised the two NATO allies’ bilateral military cooperation, which endured through the contentious years of Britain’s departure from the EU.

“The British are deep natural allies (for France) and the treaties that bind us together… lay a solid foundation,” he said.

“We have to follow them up and strengthen them, because Brexit has not affected this relationship,” Macron added.

The president also said France should seek similar “partnerships” with fellow EU members.