Paris: Former French prime minister François Fillon was handed a four-year suspended prison sentence on Tuesday in connection to the “fake jobs” scandal that derailed his 2017 presidential campaign. Fillon, 71, was found guilty in 2022 of embezzlement for assigning a non-existent parliamentary assistant role to his wife, Penelope Fillon, who received millions of euros from public funds without performing any work for the National Assembly.
According to France24.com, the court did not alter the punishment for Penelope Fillon, a British national, who was previously given a two-year suspended sentence and fined the same amount as her husband. The couple has consistently claimed that Penelope Fillon conducted authentic constituency work, despite the court’s findings. Neither François nor Penelope Fillon appeared in court for the verdict.
Fillon, a conservative politician, had earlier expressed that the ban on seeking public office inflicted a “moral wound.” The scandal, labeled “PenelopeGate” by the French media, significantly damaged Fillon’s popularity, leading to his elimination in the first round of France’s 2017 presidential election, which Emmanuel Macron ultimately won. Fillon remarked, “The treatment I received was somewhat unusual and nobody will convince me otherwise,” suggesting a connection to his candidacy in the presidential race.
He further alleged that similar fake parliamentary jobs were widespread between 1981 and 2021, claiming that a considerable number of lawmakers were in an analogous situation during that period. Penelope Fillon’s fraudulent contract was active from 2012 to 2013, with the court ruling that there was no evidence of any salaried work conducted.
Fillon’s lawyer, Antonin Levy, expressed relief over the decision to avoid imprisonment for his client, stating, “François Fillon is a free man.”
In a related development involving French politicians, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, another conservative figure, was stripped of his Légion d’Honneur medal after his conviction for graft. Sarkozy, 70, was previously monitored with an electronic ankle tag until last month, following France’s highest appeals court upholding his conviction last December for attempting to illicitly secure favors from a judge. He is currently facing trial in a separate case involving allegations of accepting illegal campaign financing linked to an alleged pact with the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Additionally, far-right leader Marine Le Pen was convicted in an embezzlement case regarding fake European Parliament jobs and is appealing the verdict. Le Pen received a partly suspended jail term, a fine, and a five-year ban from participating in elections, potentially hindering her aspirations to run for the presidency in 2027.