The businessman Pierre Botton, convicted and jailed in the 90s for misuse of corporate assets, will be tried on July 12 in Paris for embezzling donations to the association against recidivism he founded, a- we learned Wednesday from judicial source.
According to this source, Pierre Botton was presented Tuesday at the Paris prosecutor who notified him of a summons for a trial. He was also placed under judicial supervision with the prohibition of running a company. He will be tried for "breach of trust", "fraud", "misuse of corporate property", "forgery and use of forgery" and "money laundering".
A preliminary inquiry opened in January 2017
The former son-in-law of the former deputy mayor of Lyon Michel Noir, who spent 20 months in prison in the 1990s in a resounding political and financial affair, was targeted since January 2017 by a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office. This procedure followed a report from Tracfin. The anti-money laundering service of the Ministry of Finance had detected suspicious funds transfers between the personal account of Pierre Botton, that of his company "In the heart of prisons" and that of the association he founded "Together against recidivism ", revealed in June 2017 Le Monde . "The amount of misappropriated amounts to several hundred thousand euros," wrote Wednesday the newspaper that was able to see the minutes of convocation in court.
Pierre Botton would have "recovered" funds up to 54 to 61% 'of the subsidies received by the support association for prisoners under cover of the payment of benefits issued by the company' In the heart of prisons' ". Funds that would have been used for "taking charge of work in a villa in Cannes to the tune of 108,000 euros" or "the assumption of responsibility for the rent of his personal home".
Pierre Botton challenges the allegations
"I formally challenge the allegations reported by a newspaper that has been pursuing me for more than 25 years," responded Pierre Botton. "Three tax audits have validated the procedures of my accountants, all legal experts," he said. "All my actions in the prisons were carried out in complete transparency with the patrons who trusted me and in the strict framework of the prison administration", he added, stating that he could "answer point by point to everything that was reproached to him.
After leaving prison in 1996, Pierre Botton devoted himself to improving the conditions of detention. He became an important interlocutor of the public authorities on this theme via the actions of his association, supported by several personalities like Pierre Arditi, Yannick Noah or Michel Drucker.