Paris (AFP)
"An indictment is guilty of nothing," said Friday evening the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand, after his indictment for illegal taking interests in the Mutuelles de Bretagne case.
"An indictment is guilty of nothing, and I am not hindered in the fullness of the exercise of my duties," said the elected Finistere local daily Telegram, saying he is sensitive to "support provided by the majority and by many political figures of all kinds. "
"I do not intend to give up my innocence to the end, but I do not see why an indictment would become a presumption of guilt," he added.
Ferrand explains that he has not resigned from the presidency of the Assembly because the rule, which he deems "questionable", according to which an indictment implies the withdrawal of the government "has not not to apply elsewhere ".
Asked about a tweet of April 2017 in which he felt that the presidential candidate François Fillon had lost "any moral authority" following his indictment, Richard Ferrand replied that he reproached Mr. Fillon for his commitment taken.
"The candidate Fillon had said that if he was indicted for matters that affected his duties as an elected official, he would withdraw." Before my election, a year ago, I said that I would not resign if I was indicted, after a classification without continuation on a strictly professional file.
This faithful first hour Emmanuel Macron had reacted with AFP immediately after his indictment in the night of Wednesday to Thursday saying "determined to continue (his) mission".
The Mutuelles de Bretagne affair had led Mr Ferrand to leave the government in June 2017. As soon as he was appointed Minister of Territorial Cohesion, he was pinned by Le Canard chained who revealed that in 2011 the Mutuelles de Bretagne, Mr. Ferrand was managing then, had decided to rent commercial premises belonging to his companion.
Mr Ferrand disputes any irregularity.
© 2019 AFP